Abstract
Purpose :
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of vision loss amongst working age adults in developed countries. phthalmoscopy is still the gold standard for the diagnosis and staging of DR. Microvasculature changes can occur before first changes are seen on clinical examination. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a noninvasive and rapid method to asses retinal structures at microscopic level.
In this study we analyzed retinal capillary plexus density and the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in diabetics without clinical signs of DR compared to healthy age matched individuals using swept-source Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (ss-OCTA).
Methods :
In this prospective study we recruited 21 patients with Typ 1 or Typ 2 diabetes and 20 age-matched healthy individuals. Patients were examined by two independent ophthalmologists and included if no clinical signs of diabetic retinal changes were seen according to the International Diabetic Retinopathy Severity Scale. OCTA imaging was performed with 3 mm × 3 mm fields of view using ss-OCTA by Zeiss (Plex Elite 9000, Zeiss Medical, Dublin, CA; USA). All pictures were anonymized. In both groups vessel density and perfusion density were analyzed in the deep plexus image and the superficial plexus image using the Macular Density Algorithm v 0.7. Fovea avascular zone (FAZ) analysis was done in the superficial plexus with the algorithm mentioned above. The images were evaluated by two well-trained, independent investigators. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. The mean primary endpoints of this study are the vessel density, perfusion density and FAZ area size in diabetics compared to healthy individuals. p< 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results :
Quantitative analysis showed no significant difference in the FAZ area size between the groups (p = 0.134). Regarding perfusion density results showed no significant difference between diabetics and healthy individuals in the deep plexus (p=0.933) and in the superficial plexus (p= 0.576). Furthermore no significant difference in the deep plexus (p= 0.851) and in the superficial plexus (p= 0.509) among the two groups could be found in the vessel density
Conclusions :
In conclusion, our study showed no significant difference in retinal capillary plexus density or FAZ size between patients with or without diabetes
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.