[Diabetic choroidopathy--a retrospective fluorescein angiography study. Preliminary report]

Both histologic studies and findings with Indocyanin green angiography furnish clear indications of the existence of diabetic choroidopathy. Out of 19,387 fluorescein angiograms made over the last 15 years at the First Ophthalmological Clinic of Vienna University, 902 were selected in which the choroidal vascular system is at least partially visible due to melanin hypopigmentation. The pathologic changes in the choroid observed in these angiograms can be allocated in two basic types of pathologic fluorescence: on the one hand hyperfluorescent lesions such as drusen in Bruch's membrane in suprisingly young diabetics, extremely hyperfluorescent lobules of the choriocapillaris, choroidal aneurysms, and neovascularizations; on the other hand, hypofluorescent lesions or structures were observed, such as delayed filling of the choriocapillaris and, in the late phase of angiography, varicose and tortuous choroidal vessels, drained and appearing dark in contrast to the diffuse background fluorescence.