ASRS 2024: Sickle cell retinopathy and measurements with dynamic OCT angiography

Richard B. Rosen, MD, from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, received the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) Founders Award at this year's meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. Rosen was given the award for his significant contributions to the advancement of vitreoretinal surgery, treatment, research and patient care.

During the conference, he met with the Eye Care Network to discuss his Founders Lecture, which focused on sickle cell retinopathy, measurement with dynamic OCT angiography and quad-fusion adaptive optics imaging.

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Richard B. Rosen, MD, DSc(Hon), FACS, FASRS, FARVO: I'm Richard Rosen from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. And I presented on sickle cell retinopathy, which we measured with dynamic OCT angiography and quad-fusion adaptive optics imaging. We've developed a technique using dynamic OCT angiography that looks at intermittent perfusion changes in the retina in patients who have sickle cell disease. So, we can actually measure, not only the intensity of the disease, but response to therapy from an individual. So we can see [and] assess exactly how an individual responds to any particular therapy, and what the immediate status of their disease is. And we showed examples using hydroxyurea and also CRISPR stem cell therapy.

In the study that I reported, we looked at approximately 74 patients, 54 of them were patients with various types of sickle cell disease. There were patients who had different varieties, genotypes from sickle traits to sickle SC and sickle cell anemia SS. And we compare that to age match-race match controls, to see what was the incidence of these intermittent occlusive events that occur very commonly with sickle cell disease. Particular outcomes were in terms of the number of these events that would occur within a particular area, looking both around the fovea and temporal to the fovea.

I think the takeaway is, using dynamic OCT angiography we can assess non-invasively what the impact of therapy is in patients. We're currently doing a large study sponsored by the National Institute of Health looking at what is the impact of–first in patients who are asymptomatic what their particular condition is, then what is the impact for various therapies that we're giving these patients to see how they respond, particularly now that a lot of new therapies for sickle cell disease have become available. Most recently, the FDA has approved stem cell therapy. So we'll be looking at those patients as well.