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Purpose: To utilize ultrawidefield (UWF) imaging to evaluate retinal and choroidal vasculature and structure in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared with that of controls with normal cognition. Design: Prospective cross sectional study. Participants: One hundred thirty-one eyes of 82 MCI patients and 230 eyes of 133 cognitively normal participants from the Eye Multimodal Imaging in Neurodegenerative Disease Study. Methods: A scanning laser ophthalmoscope (California, Optos Inc) was used to obtain UWF fundus color images. Images were analyzed with the Vasculature Assessment Platform for Images of the Retina UWF (VAMPIRE-UWF 2.0, Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee) software. Main outcome measures: Imaging parameters included vessel width gradient, vessel width intercept, large vessel choroidal vascular density, vessel tortuosity, and vessel fractal dimension. Results: Both retinal artery and vein width gradients were less negative in MCI patients compared with controls, demonstrating decreased rates of vessel thinning at the periphery (P < 0.001; P = 0.027). Retinal artery and vein width intercepts, a metric that extrapolates the width of the vessel at the center of the optic disc, were smaller in MCI patients compared with that of controls (P < 0.001; P = 0.017). The large vessel choroidal vascular density, which quantifies the vascular area versus the total choroidal area, was greater in MCI patients compared with controls (P = 0.025). Conclusions: When compared with controls with normal cognition, MCI patients had thinner retinal vasculature manifested in both the retinal arteries and the veins. In MCI, these thinner arteries and veins attenuated at a lower rate when traveling toward the periphery. MCI patients also had increased choroidal vascular density. Financial Disclosure(s): Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312118.].

ObjectiveFrontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, leading to cognitive decline and personality changes. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to characterize angioarchitectural changes in the retina and choroid of individuals with FTD compared to cognitively normal controls using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA).MethodsCross-sectional comparison of patients with FTD and controls with normal cognition. All participants underwent Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at the time of imaging. Outcome measures included OCT parameters: retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, ganglion cell layer-inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL) thickness, central subfield thickness (CST), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), choroidal vascularity index (CVI); and OCTA superficial capillary plexus parameters: foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, 3x3mm and 6x6mm macular perfusion density (PD) and vessel density (VD), 4.5x4.5mm peripapillary capillary perfusion density (CPD) and capillary flux index (CFI). Generalized estimating equation analysis was used to account for the inclusion of 2 eyes from the same participant.Results29 eyes of 19 patients with FTD and 85 eyes of 48 controls were analyzed. In FTD, 3x3mm macular PD (p = 0.02) and VD (p = 0.02) and CFI (p = 0.01) were reduced compared to controls. There was no difference in average 4.5x4.5mm CPD, RNFL thickness, GC-IPL thickness, CST, SFCT, CVI, FAZ, or 6x6mm VD or PD between FTD and controls (all p > 0.05); however, there was a trend toward lower macular 6x6mm PD and VD in patients with FTD.ConclusionDecline of peripapillary and macular OCT and OCTA parameters merit further investigation as potential biomarkers for FTD detection. Noninvasive retinal and choroidal imaging may hold promise for earlier detection, and future longitudinal studies will clarify their role in monitoring of FTD.

ObjectiveTo characterize retinal and choroidal microvascular and structural changes in patients who are gene positive for mutant huntingtin protein (mHtt) with symptoms of Huntington's Disease (HD).MethodsThis study is a cross-sectional comparison of patients who are gene positive for mHtt and exhibit symptoms of HD, either motor manifest or prodromal (HD group), and cognitively normal individuals without a family history of HD (control group). HD patients were diagnosed by Duke movement disorder neurologists based on the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS). Fovea and optic nerve centered OCT and OCTA images were captured using Zeiss Cirrus HD-5000 with AngioPlex. Outcome metrics included central subfield thickness (CST), peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness, ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness, and choroidal vascularity index (CVI) on OCT, and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, vessel density (VD), perfusion density (PD), capillary perfusion density (CPD), and capillary flux index (CFI) on OCTA. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were used to account for inter-eye correlation.ResultsForty-four eyes of 23 patients in the HD group and 77 eyes of 39 patients in the control group were analyzed. Average GCIPL thickness and FAZ area were decreased in the HD group compared to controls (p = 0.001, p < 0.001). No other imaging metrics were significantly different between groups.ConclusionsPatients in the HD group had decreased GCIPL thickness and smaller FAZ area, highlighting the potential use of retinal biomarkers in detecting neurodegenerative changes in HD.