Figure 7: Transverse vessel density profiles in the 4 retinal vascular plexuses.
Vessel density was calculated in en face projections of the plexuses along a 0.7 mm wide (y, perpendicular to image plane) swath, sampled every 0.05 mm (x) along the maculopapillary axis (Fig. 2). The locations are measured by distance from the edge of the optic disc. The yellow and red lines represent the superficial (yellow) and deep (red) segmentation boundaries for vessel density measurements for each plexus, which were averaged from 9 normal human participants and error bars representing standard deviation is shown every 10th point. The x axis scale was normalized to a reference image for all participants at the disc and fovea. The transverse vessel density profile includes large vessels and is based on maximum flow projection across the full thickness of the plexuses (1–24 voxel thick slabs) and therefore have higher values than the depth-resolve capillary density profile (single-voxel thick slabs) shown before. (RPCP = radial peripapillary capillary plexus, SVP = superficial vascular plexus, ICP = intermediate capillary plexus, DCP = deep capillary plexus).
