UC Irvine

Objective

Develop a multi-functional imaging system that combines 1.7μm optical coherence tomography/angiography (OCT/OCTA) to accurately interrogate Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) skin lesions.

Methods

The study involved imaging HHT skin lesions on five subjects including lips, hands, and chest. We assessed the attributes of both HHT lesions and the healthy vasculature around them in these individuals, employing quantifiable measures such as vascular density and diameter. Additionally, we performed scans on an HHT patient who had undergone anti-angiogenic therapy, allowing us to observe changes in vasculature before and after treatment.

Results

The results from this pilot study demonstrate the feasibility of evaluating the HHT lesion using this novel methodology and suggest the potential of OCTA to noninvasively track HHT lesions over time. The average percentage change in density between HHT patients' lesions and control was 37%. The percentage increase in vessel diameter between lesion and control vessels in HHT patients was 23.21%.

Conclusion

In this study, we demonstrated that OCTA, as a functional extension of OCT, can non-invasively scan HHT lesions in vivo. We scanned five subjects with HHT lesions in various areas (lip, ear, finger, and palm) and quantified vascular density and diameter in both the lesions and adjacent healthy tissue. This non-invasive method will permit a more comprehensive examination of HHT lesions.

Significance

This method of non-invasive imaging could offer new insights into the physiology, management, and therapeutics of HHT-associated lesion development and bleeding.