[그림 = 아주대병원 제공]If you have diabetes, you should have an eye exam on a regular basis. This is because the most frightening disease among complications of diabetes is diabetic retinopathy (damage of microvessels in the retina). More than 90% of patients who have been diagnosed with diabetes for more than 30 years, and regarding 60 to 70% of those who have been diagnosed with diabetes before or following 15 years, will develop this disease. It accounts for a high proportion of the causes of blindness in countries around the world.
Professor Jihoon Song of Ophthalmology at Ajou University Hospital studied 81 eyes of 70 patients with diabetic retinopathy, particularly diabetic macular edema, which is a cause of severe visual loss. As a result of analyzing the test results and changes in the thickness of the choroid, it was confirmed that the edema of the macula, the center of the retina, was observed at 7 weeks and 14 weeks, and the choroid thickness was also significantly decreased and the maximum corrected visual acuity was significantly improved. A related paper was published in the international scientific journal ‘RETINA’ under the title ‘Changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness following intravitreal dexamethasone implant therapy for diabetic macular edema’. announced on the 26th. Dexamethasone implantation is an intraocular injection that has been widely used recently for the treatment of diabetic macular edema. The choroid is a membrane that forms the middle layer of the eyeball wall, and contains a lot of blood vessels and melanocytes, and blocks the light coming from the outside from being dispersed. With a thickness of 0.3 to 0.5 mm, blood vessels are the best distributed among the vascular membranes, supplying nutrients to the pigment layer or photoreceptor layer of the retina (source Doosan Encyclopedia).
This confirmed that the thickness of the choroid is closely related to the improvement of macular edema, and the thinner the thickness of the choroid, the greater the improvement of macular edema, and the effect of restoring visual acuity in these patients was great. In particular, the change in choroidal thickness and the maximum therapeutic effect following dexamethasone implant treatment was at the 7th week, and the decrease in choroidal thickness at this time was closely related to the final improved visual acuity. In addition, it was confirmed that a significantly good visual prognosis can be expected when the minimum change value (degree of change) of the choroid thickness is 22 μm. If the change in choroid thickness is greater than 22 μm, it can be predicted that the final visual prognosis is good. In addition, patients with subretinal fluid or retinal photoreceptor cells clearly showing on the pre-treatment optical coherence tomography image showed a large change in choroidal thickness following treatment and a good treatment prognosis.
Professor Song Ji-hoon said, “It has been confirmed that in diabetic macular edema, which has a high risk of developing diabetes and can lead to blindness, the treatment prognosis can be predicted by changing the thickness of the choroid. We hope that it will help predict treatment response and obtain good treatment results.”
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