2Mersin City Training and Research Hospital, Pediatric Endocrinology, Mersin, Türkiye
3Mersin City Training and Research Hospital, Pediatry, Mersin, Türkiye DOI : 10.37845/ret.vit.2026.35.32 Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare optical coherence tomography anjiography (OCT-A) measurements across three pediatric congenital idiopathic growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) groups defined by recombined GH (rhGH) treatment status and duration: no prior GH treatment, 4 months of GH treatment, and at least 1 year of GH treatment.
\r\nMaterials and Methods: A total of 47 right eyes from 47 pediatric IGHD patients were included in the study. We divided the patients into three groups. The first group consisted of children who had not yet started rhGH therapy (n=16), the second group included children who had received treatment for 4 months (n=14), and the third group comprised children who had been receiving treatment for at least 12 months (n=17). Retinal microvascular structure were evaluated with recorded OCT-A images via OCTAVA (OCT-A Vascular Analyzer) image analysis software in terms of the parameters vessel area density, vessel length density, vessel length, vessel diameter, branchpoint density, tortuosity, and metrics characterising the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) including FAZ area, p, circularity, acircularity index, axis ratio, and vessel density within a 300-µm width ring surrounding the FAZ.
\r\nResults: The groups were not different in terms of age, height and weight of the patients. The median treatment duration was 0 month in group 1, 4 months in group 2 and 12 months (min 12 - max 36 months) in group 3. (p < 0.001) No significant difference was detected in the OCT-A parameters among the three study groups (p>0,05).
\r\nConclusion: The analysis revealed no statistically significant difference.
Keywords : Congenital idiopathic growth hormone deficiency, recombinant growth hormone, retinal microvasculature, OCT-A, OCTAVA