Optical coherence tomography angiography study of the retinal vascular plexuses in type 1 diabetes without retinopathy

Aim Previous data suggest the existence of retinal vascular changes and impaired autoregulation in the very early stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR). We compared the retinal plexuses between patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) without DR and a demographically similar healthy cohort, using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A). Methods Patients with T1D and no signs of DR were prospectively recruited from an outpatient clinic. Using OCT-A (AngioVue (R)), the parafoveal superficial (SCP) and deep (DPC) capillary plexus as well as the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) and perimeter were gathered. Mean comparison tests and linear regression analysis were used as statistical tests (STATA v14). Results Studied population included 48 subjects (24 T1D). The analysis of SCP revealed an attenuation of the capillary network compared with the control group in both parafoveal (51.8 +/- 4.5 vs. 55.8 +/- 3.2, p < 0.001) and perifoveal (51.9 +/- 3.3 vs. 53.9 +/- 1.9, p = 0.01) regions. A similar finding was observed in the DCP for both parafoveal (56.4 +/- 4.3 vs. 60.4 +/- 2.2, p < 0.001) and perifoveal (54.7 +/- 3.9 vs. 60.8 +/- 3.4, p = 0.001) sectors. Also, a longer time since T1D diagnosis was associated with a larger FAZ area (p = 0.055) and perimeter (p = 0.03). Conclusions Significant differences in the retinal microvasculature were observed between healthy subjects and T1D patients using OCT-A, even before clinically detectable disease on fundus biomicroscopy.