Morphological and Functional Evaluation Of Diabetic Eyes Without Diabetic Retinopathy

Abstract

Purpose : To assess early morpho-functional changes that precede clinical signs of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in type 2 diabetic patients with no signs of DR

Methods : Twelve consecutive type 2 diabetic patients without DR and 12 healthy controls of similar age underwent a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination, including spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), microperimetry (MP-1 microperimeter Nidek Technologies, Padova, Italy) and multifocal electroretinography (mfERG, RE-TI scan multifocal system, Roland Consult, Brandenburg, Germany). Microperimetry assessed retinal sensitivity map with customized grid of 45 Goldmann III stimuli covering the central 12° microperimetry. mfERG analyzed the first-order mfERG responses, namely the P1 and N1 amplitudes

Results : Twenty-four eyes of type 2 diabetic patients (7 males, 5 females, mean age of 61.8 ± 5.7) and 24 eyes of 12 healthy controls (8 males, 4 females, mean age of 62.7 ± 5.1) were included in this study. Mean central foveal thickness (CFT) was 245.4 ±29 µm and 224.5 ±12 µm, in diabetic eyes and healthy controls, respectively (p=0.007). Mean retinal sensitivity on microperimetry was 17.98 ±1.58 dB and 19 ±0.46 dB, in diabetics and controls, respectively (p=0.01). mfERG showed normal amplitude of waves N1-P1 with a normal implicit time in both groups: the mean amplitude of N1 in the three central rings was -0.54 ± 0.41, -0.29 ± 0.20, -0.25 ± 0.10 and -0.53 ± 0.1, -0.28 ± 0.06, -0.23 ± 0.06 in diabetic eyes and healthy controls, respectively (p=0.2, p=0.6, p=0.5); the mean amplitude of P1 in the three central rings was 0.70 ± 0.31, 0.43 ± 0.24, 0.28 ± 0.15 and 0.75 ± 0.19, 0.39 ± 0.08, 0.26 ± 0.06 in diabetic eyes and healthy controls, respectively (p=0.4, p=0.5, p=0.8)

Conclusions : Compared to healthy controls, type 2 diabetic patients without DR present significantly thickened CFT on SD-OCT and reduced sensitivity on microperimetry, but similar mfERG findings

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.