[Clinical and morphometric macular changes in patients with diabetes mellitus after cataract phacoemulsification]

Optical coherent tomography (OCT) shows that in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), a macular morphological response to cataract phacoemulsification (CPE) with intaocular lens (IOL) implantation proceeds as 3 types: 1) areactive without macular morphological changes; 2) hyperreactive with the development of reversible subclinical macular edema; and 3) aggressive with the transition of stress-induced retinal morphological lesions to clinically significant diabetic macular edema. Morphological differences in OCT parameters were established to have impact on the effect of visual rehabilitation. Following 3-4 months of CPE with IOL implantation in DM patients with the areactive type of a macular morphological response to surgical stress, the increase in visual acuity exceeded that observed in the hyperactive and aggressive types of a macular response by 12.8 and 57.7%, respectively. The findings suggest that medical preventive measures reducing the negative consequences of surgical stress should be implemented in DM patients at catarrhal surgery.