Retinal OCT Can Act as Prognostic Biomarker of Kidney Injury

MONDAY, Dec. 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) has potential to act as a noninvasive monitor and prognostic biomarker of kidney injury, according to a study published online Dec. 5 in Nature Communications.

Tariq E. Farrah, B.M., B.Sc., from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, and colleagues examined the potential of retinal OCT to track kidney injury, demonstrate treatment response, and predict outcomes in patients with predialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD), patients with kidney failure undergoing kidney transplantation, living kidney donors, and healthy volunteers.

The researchers identified similar retinal thinning and reduced macular volume in patients with CKD and those with a kidney transplant compared with healthy volunteers. The choroidal thinning seen in CKD was not seen in kidney transplant recipients whose choroids were similar to those of healthy volunteers. The degree of choroidal thinning in CKD was related to a reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and the extent of kidney scarring. Choroidal thickness increased rapidly (~10 percent) following kidney transplantation and was maintained over one year; during the 12 months following kidney donation, gradual choroidal thinning was seen. Retinal and choroidal thickness was independently associated with eGFR decline over two years in patients with CKD.

"OCT metrics have already been incorporated into clinical trial outcome measures in multiple sclerosis and our data introduce the exciting possibility that these metrics might be included alongside eGFR and proteinuria to individualize cardiovascular risk and the risk of kidney disease progression in future trials in CKD," the authors write.

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