Wide‑field swept‑source OCT angiography of the periarterial capillary‑free zone before and after anti‑VEGF therapy for branch retinal vein occlusion

Background:The aim of the study was to investigate the changes in the periarterial capillary-free zone(paCFZ)after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)therapy in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion(BRVO)by widefield swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography(SS-OCTA)and assess their associations with clinical outcomes.Methods:In this retrospective observational study of 54 treatment-naive BRVO patients with macular edema,we reviewed the findings of 12×12 mm^(2)SS-OCTA at baseline,3,6,and 12 months after intravitreal ranibizumab injections.The paCFZ and major retinal artery areas were measured on SS-OCTA images.The paCFZ area to artery area(P/A)ratio was calculated.Results:The paCFZ areas and P/A ratios of first-and second-order arteries were significantly greater in BRVO eyes than in contralateral eyes(all P<0.01),but there were no differences in the first-and second-order artery areas(P=0.20 and 0.25,respectively).The paCFZ areas and P/A ratios decreased significantly at 3,6,and 12 months after anti-VEGF therapy(all P<0.01).The baseline P/A ratio was significantly correlated with the baseline best-corrected visual acuity(BCVA),central retinal thickness,and their improvements at 3,6,and 12 months(all P<0.05).Baseline BCVA and P/A ratios of first-and second-order arteries were independently associated with the final BCVA in multivariate linear regression.Conclusions:Wide-field SS-OCTA shows that anti-VEGF therapy can lead to a significant improvement in the paCFZ parameters in BRVO.Smaller baseline P/A ratios on SS-OCTA tend to predict better visual outcomes at 12 months after anti-VEGF therapy.

A compact ultra-wideband crossed-dipole antenna for 2G/3G/4G/IMT/5G customer premise equipment applications

1 Introduction A compact ultra-wideband crossed-dipole antenna is proposed for 2G/3G/4G/IMT/5G customer premise equipment(CPE)applications.The arms of the crossed-dipole antenna are formed by step-shaped patches,and a wideband operation can be realized by properly selecting the order of the step-shaped patches;its bandwidth can be further enhanced by extending the end of crossed dipole downward.Each dipole is excited by a microstrip stub that is directly connected to a coaxial cable.Furthermore,a slotted rectangular parasitic patch is added beneath the crossed dipoles to further support a 5G sub-6-GHz band without additional space cost.