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Do macular OCT‐A measures correlate with functional outcomes in diabetic patients?
Author(s) -
Bontzos Georgios,
GarnavouXirou Christina,
Xirou Tina,
Gkizis Ilias,
Kabanarou Stamatina,
Chatziralli Irini
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2019.5428
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetic retinopathy , ophthalmology , diabetes mellitus , visual acuity , contrast (vision) , retinopathy , optical coherence tomography , endocrinology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Purpose To investigate the association between anatomic changes, as measured optical coherence tomography‐angiography (OCT‐A), and functional visual outcomes in diabetic patients. Methods Participants in this cross‐sectional study were 60 patients (60 eyes) with diabetes mellitus and 20 normal subjects (20 eyes). Patients underwent complete ophthalmologic examination, including staging of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Patients were divided in 3 groups: (i) diabetes without retinopathy (noDR); (ii) background retinopathy (NPDR) and (iii) proliferative retinopathy (PDR). Best‐corrected distance visual acuity (BCVA) was measured using ETDRS charts, while contrast sensitivity was evaluated with the Pelli‐Robson charts. Patients underwent OCT‐A to measure the area of FAZ (mm 2 ) and the vessel density (%) at the macular and paramacular area. Results BCVA was 83.7 ± 5.3 for the healthy subjects and did not differ significantly compared to diabetic group (78.8 ± 10.6, p = 0.281). There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.01) in contrast sensitivity between control(28.1 ± 3.4) and diabetic group (22.2 ± 6.7).In NPDR group, vessel density was reduced in the deep capillary plexus (mean = 21.4%). In the PDR group, vessel density was significantly reduced in the superficial (mean = 35.8%) and the deep (mean = 18.3%) capillary plexus. BCVA was significantly associated with FAZ area only in the PDR group (r = 0.61; p < 0.01), while contrast sensitivity was not associated with vessel dropout, nor with FAZ area in all groups. Conclusions Functional impairment related to contrast sensitivity may precede visual acuity decrease in diabetic patients. However, only BCVA and not CS recordings were significantly associated with OCT‐A measurements, such as FAZ area and vessel density in diabetic patients and mainly with proliferative disease. OCT‐A is a valuable tool for documenting early structural alterations in diabetic retina, which can be related to some functional visual parameters.