Abstract
Purpose :
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a dreaded complication of diabetes, often resulting in vision loss. DR can manifest as proliferative or non-proliferative disease. It has been shown that quantitative FLIO lifetimes shift to longer lifetimes in patients with diabetes. This study further investigates FLIO-changes in patients with diabetes, investigating both qualitative and quantitative aspects.
Methods :
12 patients with DR (67 ± 12 years) as well as an age-matched healthy group were investigated at the Moran Eye Center using a prototype Heidelberg FLIO device. Only patients and controls with artificial intraocular lenses were included in this study. Fundus autofluorescence was excited at 473 nm, and subsequent fluorescence lifetimes were recorded in short (498-560 nm, SSC) and long (560-720 nm, LSC) spectral channels. Mean autofluorescence were calculated and analyzed. All subjects also received OCT imaging.
Results :
FLIO lifetimes in patients with DR are significantly prolonged compared with age-matched healthy controls (p<0.001). This prolongation especially occurs in the superior-temporal area and is different from patterns described for age-related macular degeneration. The superior-temporal macular area in patients with DR showed FLIO lifetimes between 300 and 400 ps, which were approximately 100 ps longer than corresponding areas in healthy eyes.
Conclusions :
FLIO detects characteristic changes in fluorescence lifetimes in patients with both proliferative as well as non-proliferative DR. Previous studies have shown that FLIO lifetimes are prolonged in patients with diabetes, which was confirmed in this study. This prolongation occurred in the superior-temporal area of the macula. FLIO may be of help to understand disease processes in DR.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.