Abstract
Purpose :
To describe the clinical features of diabetic macular edema in the Mexican population and their relationship with biomarkers in optical coherence tomography.
Methods :
A retrospective review of clinical records of patients diagnosed with diabetic macular edema and non-proliferative retinopathy was carried out. The analyzed data included demographic characteristics, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) biomarkers: central subfoveal thickness (CST), external limiting membrane (ELM) and ellipsoid zone (EZ) disruption, bridging retinal processes (BRP), disorganization of the retinal inner layers (DRIL), cystoid macular edema (CME), subretinal fluid (SRF), intraretinal fluid (IRF), hard exudates (HE), hyperreflective foci (HRF) and vitreomacular interface abnormalities (VMA). Descriptive statistics were done with IBM SPSS Statistics software.
Results :
A total of 80 eyes of 48 patients were analyzed, of which 57.5% were women with a mean age of 64.21 years (51-81 years). The average time from diabetes mellitus diagnosis was 16.55 years (1-68 years) and 50% (24 patients) associated systemic hypertension. The mean BCVA was 0.99 logMAR (0.18-2.30 logMAR). The mean central subfoveal thickness was 455.58 microns (182-1020 microns). Biomarkers associated with good response to anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy such as SRF and BRP, were only found in 26.3% (21 eyes) and 11.3% (9 eyes) respectively. Biomarkers associated with worse response to this therapy were more prevalent: EZ disruption 48.8% (39 eyes), ELM disruption 75% (60 eyes), CME in 50%(24 eyes), HRF in 65% (52 eyes), IRF 73.8% (59 eyes), HE in 87.3% (70 eyes), DRIL in 57.5% (46 eyes). There was a significant correlation between CST and BCVA, (Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.236 [p=0.035]), which implies that a better BCVA is associated with a lower CST. BCVA also correlates with EZ disruption, (the point-biserial correlation coefficient was 0.30 [P=0.007]), but does not correlate with other OCT biomarkers.
Conclusions :
Diabetic macular edema in mexican patients tends to present with optical coherence tomography biomarkers associated with a worse response to anti–VEGF therapy.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.