Changes in Retinal and Choroidal Vascular Blood Flow after Oral Sildenafil: An Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Study.
J Ophthalmol 2017;
2017:7174540. [PMID:
29129998 PMCID:
PMC5654255 DOI:
10.1155/2017/7174540]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Revised: 09/16/2017] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose
To describe changes in the retina and choroidal flow by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) after a single dose of oral sildenafil.
Method
A case-control study. Patients in the study group received 50 mg of oral sildenafil. Patients in the control group received a sham pill. Retinal and choroidal images were obtained at baseline (before pill ingestion) and 1 hour after ingestion. Central macular and choroidal thickness, choroidal and outer retina flow, and the retinal and choroidal vascular density were compared using a Mann-Whitney U test.
Results
Twenty eyes were enrolled into the study group and 10 eyes in the control group. There was a significant difference in central choroidal thickness and outer retina blood flow between groups after 1 hour of sildenafil ingestion (p < 0.01). There were no differences in central macular thickness, choroidal flow, and retinal vascular density among groups.
Conclusions
A single dose of oral sildenafil increases choroidal thickness, probably due to sildenafil-induced vasodilation.
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