title: Retinal vessel diameter can reliably be determined in minipigs using Retinal Vessel Analyser with a microscope-mounted fundus camera.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Retinal Vessel Analyser (RVA) is a validated instrument to measure retinal vessel diameter in humans. The purpose of this study was to assess the reproducibility (inter-observer reliability) and the repeatability (test-retest reliability) of RVA with a microscope-mounted fundus camera to determine retinal vessel diameter in minipigs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ocular fundus image from five anaesthetized minipigs was recorded in a digital videotape for approximately 5 min, under stable systemic arterial pressure and gas conditions. To evaluate the reproducibility, each one of two investigators used RVA to measure the diameter of the superior temporal retinal artery on five separate 30-second video sequences from each minipig, which were the same video sequences for both investigators. To evaluate the repeatability, one investigator performed five measurements on a single, randomly selected, 30-second video sequence from each minipig. The reproducibility was determined using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and the repeatability was assessed using the coefficient of variation (COV). Bland-Altman plots were also used to assess agreement between the two investigators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Retinal arteriolar diameter measurements with RVA in minipigs were highly reproducible. Differences between the two investigators were lower than 0.7%. The ICC was 1.00, indicating perfect reproducibility, and the mean COV was 0.18%, reflecting excellent repeatability of the measurements with RVA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Retinal vessel diameter can reliably be determined not only in humans, but also in minipigs, using the commercially available RVA apparatus and a microscope-mounted fundus camera.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurobiology and Physiology of the Retinal Circulation, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland             Department of Orthodontics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Domniki N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Papadopoulou
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mangioris
authors.forename: Ioannis K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Petropoulos
authors.forename: Efstratios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mendrinos
authors.forename: Anestis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mavropoulos
authors.forename: Constantin J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Pournaras
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000097:blood; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation; D015588:Observer Variation; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010313:Partial Pressure; D010781:Photography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013552:Swine; D013556:Swine, Miniature; D014741:Video Recording
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010100:Oxygen