title: OCT is not useful for detection of minimal diabetic retinopathy in type 1 diabetes.
abstract: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been proven useful in measuring retinal thickness (RT) in patients with diabetes, although with discordant results in different studies. We examined RT in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) with or without minimal diabetic retinopathy (MDR) to test whether OCT is able to identify early retinal changes and potential correlations with metabolic parameters. RT of 102 patients with T1D (53 females, 49 males, aged 27.03 +/- 7.4 years) and of 42 healthy controls was examined, with analysis of nine different sectors (fovea, four pericentral and four peripheral sectors). According to the results of basal fundus photography, patients were divided into two groups, without MDR (48 cases) and with MDR (54 cases). Patients with proliferative DR or macular edema were excluded. No difference was found between patients with or without MDR and the control group for all OCT parameters investigated. Mean HbA1c of the last 5 years (P < 0.001), microalbuminuria (P = 0.002), total (P = 0.046) and LDL cholesterol (P = 0.007) and triglyceride (P < 0.001) levels were higher in patients with MDR, along with higher prevalence of hypertension (P = 0.013), younger age at diagnosis (P = 0.018) and longer diabetes duration (P < 0.001) with regard to the patients without MDR and controls, although no significant correlation between these parameters and RT was found. Our study suggests that MDR without macular edema in patients with T1D cannot be detected with OCT. Therefore, the conventional diagnostic methods are mandatory to detect early DR.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Oncologia Sperimentale e Applicazioni Cliniche, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciresi
authors.forename: Marco Calogero
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Amato
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morreale
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morreale
authors.forename: Fausto
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Giovanna
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carità
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lodato
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galluzzo
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giordano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007328:Insulin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D018447:Medical Futility; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011859:Radiography; D012160:Retina / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin