Research progress of optical coherence tomography angiography in the evaluation of diabetic macular ischemia

Abstract

Diabetic macular ischemia(DMI), playing key roles behind the progression of diabetic retinopathy(DR), is one of the causes of vision loss. Its pathophysiological process is complex, involving vascular structure changes, hemodynamic abnormalities, and many other aspects. Traditional inspection methods often make it difficult to accurately capture subtle changes in DMI. In turn, optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA)has opened a pathway to the diagnosis and treatment of DMI, which not only has the advantages of non-invasive, safe and rapid imaging, but also furnishes high-resolution retinal vascular images to provide qualitative and quantitative descriptions of DMI. OCTA can visually show the morphological and structural changes of blood vessels in the macular region, as well as reveal the characteristics of pathological changes in the superficial and deep capillary plexus of DMI patients, which provides a deeper understanding of DMI and a new treatment option of diabetic eye disease.

Keywords

• diabetic macular ischemia
• optical coherence tomography angiography(octa)
• foveal avascular zone
• superficial capillary plexus
• deep capillary plexus