Abstract
Purpose :
The presence and number of hemorrhages and microaneurysms (HE/MA) in diabetic retinopathy (DR) is an indication of the severity of the disease. It is known that the distribution of HE/MA shows regional differences, but it is unknown whether differences exist between the upper and the lower hemiretina.
Methods :
Therefore, the location of all HE/MA was identified in digital fundus photographs of both eyes from 53 patients with moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, followed by manual confirmation of the identifications by an experienced grader. The retina was divided into the upper and the lower hemiretina by a horizontal line through the centre of the fovea and the optic disk. The number of lesions located above and below this line was compared using a binomial test.
Results :
A total of 17728 HE/MAs were identified. No significant difference was found in the number of lesions between right and the left eye (p>0.3), but the number of lesions was significantly higher in the upper (61.6%) than in the lower (38.4%) hemiretina (p<0.001, binominal test). (Figure)
Conclusions :
HE/MAs are more frequent in the upper than in the lower hemiretina. The difference may be due to differences in hydrostatic pressure between the upper and the lower retina with derived effects on retinal perfusion and the development of retinal vascular lesions.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.