THE IMPORTANCE OF OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus and develops as a result of long-term elevated blood glucose levels that damage the retinal capillaries. According to conducted studies, different stages of retinopathy were identified in 55.2% of patients with diabetes (stage 1 – 17.6%, stage 2 – 28.1%, stage 3 – 9.5%). Complete blindness occurs in only 2% of patients. Initially, visometry and ophthalmoscopy are used for the diagnosis of retinopathy. However, optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive diagnostic method that provides high-resolution 3D imaging data, which helps detect subclinical edema that cannot be identified during ophthalmoscopy, particularly enabling the early diagnosis of diabetic macular edema that threatens vision.