{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T15:57:20Z","timestamp":1792166240646,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"20","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,12]],"date-time":"2022-10-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1665532800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: The relevance of drusen-like deposits (DLD) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is to a large extent uncertain. Their genesis is proposed to be correlated to immune-complex and complement depositions in the framework of SLE. The intention of this study was to determine potential morphological differences in the choroid and retina as well as potential microvascular changes comparing two cohorts of SLE patients divergent in the presence or absence of DLD using multimodal imaging. Methods: Both eyes of 16 SLE patients with DLD were compared to an age- and sex-matched control-group consisting of 16 SLE patients without detectable DLD. Both cohorts were treated with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and did not differ in the treatment duration or dosage. Using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) choroidal volume measures, choroidal vascularity indices (CVI) and retinal layer segmentation was performed and compared. In addition, by the exploitation of optical coherence tomography angiography vascular density, perfusion density of superficial and deep retinal capillary plexuses and the choriocapillaris were analyzed. For the choroidal OCT-scans, a subset of 51 healthy individuals served as a reference-group. Results: CVI measures revealed a significant reduction in eyes with DLD compared to healthy controls (0.56 (0.54\u20130.59) versus 0.58 (0.57\u20130.59) (p = 0.018) and 0.56 (0.54\u20130.58) versus 0.58 (0.57\u20130.60) (p &lt; 0.001)). The photoreceptor cell layer presented significant thinning in both eyes of subjects with DLD compared to control subjects without DLD (68.8 \u00b1 7.7 \u00b5m vs. 77.1 \u00b1 7.3 \u00b5m for right eyes, p = 0.008, and 66.5 \u00b1 10.5 \u00b5m vs. 76.1 \u00b1 6.3 \u00b5m for left eyes, p = 0.011). OCTA scans revealed no significant changes, yet there could be observed numerically lower values in the capillary plexuses of the retina in eyes with DLD than in eyes without DLD. Conclusions: Our results illustrated significant alterations in the choroidal and retinal analyzes, suggesting a correlation between DLD and the progression of inflammatory processes in the course of SLE leading to retinal degeneration. For this reason, DLD could serve as a biomarker for a more active state of disease.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm11206012","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,12]],"date-time":"2022-10-12T20:53:29Z","timestamp":1665608009000},"page":"6012","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Structural Features of Patients with Drusen-like Deposits and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Marc","family":"Kukan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 24, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3573-3290","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matthew","family":"Driban","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UPMC Eye Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kiran K.","family":"Vupparaboina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UPMC Eye Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7443-3533","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Swen","family":"Schwarz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 24, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6843-5858","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alice M.","family":"Kitay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 24, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohammed A.","family":"Rasheed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6267-4663","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catharina","family":"Busch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Barthelmes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 24, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"},{"name":"Save Sight Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1772-3558","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jay","family":"Chhablani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UPMC Eye Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3364-2232","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mayss","family":"Al-Sheikh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 24, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"631","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cden.2013.06.003","article-title":"Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. 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