EVALUATION OF OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY IN DIABETIC RETINOPATHY

Abstract

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes, and it is a leading cause of blindness.\xa0 Fluorescein angiography (FA) is a vitally important diagnostic tool for evaluating fundus features of DR. \nObjective: To evaluate optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography in eyes with diabetic retinopathy in comparison to findings in fundus fluorescein angiography. \nPatients and Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study conducted in the Ophthalmology Department of Sayed Galal Hospital from December 2016 to June 2017. Twenty eyes were included in the study with diabetic retinopathy with age between thirty three and sixty years of both genders, and those met the inclusion criteria. Patients were fully evaluated including history, examination and investigations. Investigations used Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography and Fundus Flouresien Angiography (FFA). \nResults: The comparison between groups regarding qualitative data was done by using Chi-square test and/or Fisher exact test the patients ages mean value was 48.95 ± 6.75 years, of which 75 % were females, and 25% were males. Microaneurysm was detected in all eyes in OCTA and FFA, retinal hemorrhage in DCP in 45 % (9/20) of eyes compared to 15% (3) in SCP with a significant difference that may allow better evaluation of level of retinal hemorrhage among diabetic eyes, detection of retinal capillary dropout. Areas of capillary loss obscured by fluorescein leakage on fluorescein angiography were more clearly defined on OCTA. \nConclusion: Ability of FFA and OCTA in microanerysms detection in all eyes, but less numerous in OCTA than FFA, and OCTA could precisely locate their depth and origin which is not possible in FFA. The assessment of capillary non-perfusion areas in our study by OCTA showed higher accuracy compared to FA but with a difference that was not statistically significant.