Association between neurodegeneration and macular perfusion in the progression of diabetic retinopathy. A 3-year longitudinal study

Objective and purpose: To explore the relation between retinal neurodegenerative changes and vessel closure (VC) in individuals with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) in a follow-up period of 3 years. Design: 3-year prospective longitudinal study with four annual visits. Participants: 74 individuals with type 2 diabetes, NPDR and ETDRS grades from 10 to 47, one eye/person. An age-matched healthy control population of 84 eyes was used as control group. Methods: Participants were annually examined by color fundus photography (CFP), spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and OCT-Angiography (OCTA). Vessel closure was assessed by OCTA vessel density maps. SD-OCT segmentations was performed to access central retinal thickness (CRT) and retinal neurodegeneration considered as thinning of the ganglion cell plus inner plexiform layer (GCL+IPL). Results: Type 2 diabetic individuals presented significantly higher CRT (p=0.001), GCL+IPL thinning (p=0.042), and decreased vessel density at the superficial capillary plexus (p
Source: Ophthalmologica - Category: Opthalmology Source Type: research