PURPOSE: To evaluate microstructural retinal abnormalities on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) imaging of eyes with Coats disease. METHODS: This is a multicenter, retrospective study in which SD-OCT images of patients with treatment-naive Coats disease were correlated with clinical examination and visual acuity and, when available, followed longitudinally over time. RESULTS: Macular SD-OCT of 27 eyes with Coats disease revealed intraretinal edema (59%), intraretinal exudates (67%), subretinal fluid (37%), subretinal exudate (48%), ellipsoid zone disruption (52%), external limiting membrane disruption (41%), and subfoveal nodule (26%). All these microstructural abnormalities correlated with worse baseline and final visual acuities (P < 0.05) on univariate analysis, except for intraretinal edema which exhibited a nonstatistically significant trend toward worse baseline visual acuity (P = 0.16). Within stage 2b eyes, external limiting membrane disruption and subretinal nodule on SD-OCT were associated with worse baseline visual acuity (P = 0.02 for both), and there was a trend toward worse final visual acuity with external limiting membrane disruption and subretinal nodule (P = 0.17 for both) and worse baseline (P = 0.08) and final (P = 0.13) visual acuities with ellipsoid zone disruption. No microstructural abnormalities were noted on OCT of fellow eyes. CONCLUSION: Spectral domain OCT can identify microstructural abnormalities in Coats disease that are associated on univariate analysis with worse baseline visual acuity and visual prognosis. Further larger studies are necessary.
