Detection of early diabetic change with optical coherence tomography in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients without retinopathy

PURPOSE: To detect early diabetic damage in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with no diabetic retinopathy (NDR) using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to evaluate OCT as a clinical test. METHODS: Thirty-two patients with NDR (n = 32) were enrolled. We examined retinal and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness using OCT. Two healthy normal populations were also enrolled for the retinal thickness (n = 48) and RNFL thickness (n = 34). Both OCT measurements were obtained in four areas (temporal, superior, nasal and inferior). The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was generated to evaluate the predictor variables. RESULTS: Comparing the normal and NDR eyes, retinal thickness significantly increased (p = 0.03) and RNFL thickness significantly decreased (p = 0.02) in the superior areas. The area under the ROC curve was 0.65 for the superior retinal thickness and 0.63 for the superior RNFL thickness. CONCLUSIONS: Both OCT measurements can detect early retinal damage in NDR patients.