OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY (OCT);

Objectives: To see the consequences of diabetic macular edema as assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and visual acuity (V/A). Design: A prospective observational study. Patients were selected by simple random technique. Duration: Jan 2012 - Dec 2013. Material and Methods: A total of one hundred patients (200 eyes) of ages forty two to sixty three years with an average age of 51.04 ± 6.26 years of either sex were included. All these patients were examined in the outpatient department and were diagnosed as diabetic with macular edema and no opacity in refractive media. Their V/A was checked. OCT was performed in the Diagnostic & Research Centre, Department of Ophthalmology, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. Results: Out of 200 eyes on OCT our findings were Diffuse Retinal Thickening in 199 eyes (99.5%), Cystoid Macular Edema in 119 eyes (59.5%), Subretinal Fluid in 48 eyes (24%), Epiretinal Membrane in 15 eyes(7.5%), Vitreomacular Traction in 11 eyes (5.5%) and Taut Posterior Hyaloid Membrane in 4 eyes(2%). The visual acuity on the right side was 0.29±0.19 and on left side it was 0.38±0.11. The macular thickness was 437.10±82.57 microns on the right side and 414.01±69.35 microns on the left side. The best-corrected visual acuity was significantly correlated with central foveal thickness. Our results showed, on the right side, a significant negative correlation (correlation coefficient: -0.355, p<0.01) between them. On the left side, a significant negative correlation (correlation coefficient: -0.362, p<0.01) was recorded.