Purpose:
To evaluate measurements of macular thickness in people with diabetes but minimal or no retinopathy using Heidelberg Spectralis optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Methods:
Spectralis and Stratus OCT scans were performed on 122 participants with diabetes and minimal or no retinopathy on clinical exam. Mean retinal thickness in the 9 standard OCT subfields spanning a 6 mm diameter central zone, center point, and total retinal volume were evaluated. Central subfield thickness was evaluated for association with demographic and clinical factors.
Results:
On average, central subfield thickness on the Spectralis was 270 ± 24 microns. Central subfield thickness was significantly greater in retinas of men relative to women (mean 278 ± 23 microns versus 262 ± 22 microns, P<0.001; Figure 1). After adjusting for gender, no additional factors were found to be significantly associated with central subfield thickness (P>0.10).
Conclusions:
Central subfield thickness is about 70 microns thicker on average when measured with Heidelberg Spectralis OCT as compared with Stratus OCT among individuals with diabetes in the absence of retinopathy or with minimal retinopathy and a normal macular architecture. A central subfield thickness of 320 microns for men and 305 microns for women (2 standard deviations above the average for this normative cohort) are proposed as the gender-specific minimum thicknessncriteria for trials including eyes with central involved diabetic macular edema using Spectralis measurements.
Keywords: diabetic retinopathy