Diabetic retinopathy

Klin Monbl Augenheilkd. 2021 Aug 11. doi: 10.1055/a-1545-9927. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTDiabetic retinopathy (DR) is a vision-threatening microvascular complication of diabetes and the leading cause of blindness in working-age people. At the beginning of the metabolic disorder and in early stages of DR the patient's eyesight is often not affected. Depending on the duration of diabetes and in more advanced stages of DR the vision is compromised through the presence of diabetic macular edema (DME) and/or proliferative retinal complications. The management of DR comprises regular ophthalmic examinations according to clinical guidelines, the targeted application of multimodal imaging, and the specific treatment of DME and proliferative DR including secondary disorders such as neovascular glaucoma or persistent vitreous haemorrhage. Innovative ocular imaging techniques like optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography (OCT-A) and ultrawide field imaging play an important role in the assessment of diabetic patients. Various non-invasive imaging modalities have become part of the routine clinical work-up and help to identify new biomarkers for early diagnosis and long-term prognosis. In early stages of DR, the multifactorial intervention including glucose level and blood pressure control as well as optimizing the patient's cardiovascular risk profile is essential. A specific ophthalmic therapy is available for DME and proliferative DR (PDR). In patients with PDR the trea...
Source: Klinische Monatsblatter fur Augenheilkunde - Category: Opthalmology Authors: Source Type: research