Quantitative analysis of macular microcirculation changes in diabetic retinopathy patients by optical coherence tomography angiography

Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the macular microcirculation changes in patients with diabetic retinopathy(DR)by optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA), and correlate the risk factors that may affect the macular microcirculation, so as to provide a clinical basis for early screening, diagnosis and therapeutic intervention for DR.METHODS: Retrospective study. A total of 75 patients(75 eyes)with type 2 diabetes mellitus(DM)who came to the ophthalmology outpatient clinic and ward of Xi'an Central Hospital from May to October 2022 were collected, and the DM patients were further divided into non-DR(NDR)group, non-proliferative DR(NPDR)group and proliferative DR(PDR)group, with 28 eyes, 25 eyes and 22 eyes in each group respectively. OCTA was applied to perform a 3mm×3mm blood flow imaging scan of the macular retina to automatically obtain the vascular density(VD)of the superficial retinal macular foveal, the parafoveal(1～3mm), as well as the macular 3mm×3mm and the area of macular foveal avascular zone(FAZ). Furthermore, the alteration of these parameters in patients with different degrees of DR was analyzed.RESULTS: Compared with the NDR group, the VD of the 3mm×3mm superficial retinal capillary(SCP)in the macular region was decreased in both PDR and NPDR group(all P0.05).CONCLUSION: The microcirculation changes in the macular area of DR patients can be monitored by OCTA, and the systemic condition of DR patients is closely related to their macular microcirculation.

Keywords

• diabetic retinopathy
• optical coherence tomography angiography
• vascular density
• macular microcirculation
• foveal avascular zone