Quantitative assessment of retinal thickness in diabetic patients with andwithout clinically significant macular edema using optical coherence tomography

Purpose: To assess patients with diabetic macular edema quantitatively usin g optical coherence tomography (OCT), Methods: OCT was performed in 14 eyes with diabetic retinopathy and ophthal moscopic evidence of clinically significant macular edema (CSME) and in 19 diabetic eyes without CSME, Retinal thickness was computed from the tomogra ms at fovea and other 36 locations throughout the macula, Results: The mean +/- standard deviation foveal thickness was 255.6 +/- 138 .9 pm in eyes with CSME, and 174.6 +/- 38.2 pm in eyes without CSME (p = 0. 051), Within 2000 mum of the center of the macula, eyes with CSME had signi ficantly thicker retina in the inferior quadrant than those without CSME (p < 0.01), The foveal thickness was correlated with logMAR visual acuity (ga mma = 0.68, p < 0.01), OCT identified sponge-like retinal swelling and/or c ystoid macular edema in 11 (58%) eyes without CSME, and in 12 (86%) eyes wi th CSME, Conclusions: Criteria of CSME seem to be insufficient in really identifying macular edema, OCT may be more sensitive than a clinical examination in as sessing diabetic macular edema and is a quantitative tool for documenting c hanges in macular thickening.