title: Relationship between choroidal blood flow velocity and choroidal thickness during systemic corticosteroid therapy for Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between circulation hemodynamics and morphology in the choroid during systemic corticosteroid therapy for patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective case series includes 18 eyes of nine patients with VKH disease (two men and seven women; average age, 40.8 years) who received systemic corticosteroid therapy. Laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) and enhanced-depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) were performed before treatment and at 1 week and 1 and 3 months after treatment. The average values of the mean blur rate (MBR) at the macula and the central choroidal thickness (CCT) were compared at each stage.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The changing rates of the average MBR significantly increased at all examinations after the start of treatment compared with the pre-treatment value with resolution of serous retinal detachment (SRD) (P = 0.0002 for all). The CCT decreased significantly at all examinations after the start of treatment compared with the pre-treatment value (P = 0.0002 for all). Changes in MBR and CCT during the 3-month follow-up period correlated significantly (R = -0.5913, P = 0.0097). The best-corrected visual acuity at pre-treatment correlated significantly with the changing rate of the MBR from 0 to 3 months (R = 0.5944, P = 0.0093) but not with CCT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that circulatory disturbances and increased thickness of the choroid relate to the pathogenesis of VKH disease with link mutually. LSFG is useful as an index for evaluating the choroiditis activity of VKH disease as well as EDI-OCT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiriko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirooka
authors.forename: Wataru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Namba
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takemoto
authors.forename: Kazuomi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mizuuchi
authors.forename: Tomoe
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uno
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tagawa
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishida
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014607:Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014792:Visual Acuity; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D011239:Prednisolone