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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
In vivo Structural Assessments of Ocular Disease in Rodent Models using Optical Coherence Tomography
Published on: July 24, 2020
OUTER RETINAL LAYER THICKNESS AS GOOD VISUAL PREDICTOR IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA
Tamer F Eliwa1, Mahdi A Hussein2, Mohamed A Zaki1
1Department of Ophthalmology, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
Purpose:
To evaluate the relationship between outer retinal layer (ORL) thickness in diabetic macular edema to visual acuity (VA).
Methods:
Ninety-five eyes were included in this prospective nonrandomized case-control study. They divided into 30 cases of healthy normal subjects and 65 cases of nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy with diabetic macular edema. Complete ophthalmic examination and spectral domain-optical coherence tomography were done for all cases and analyzed to measure central foveal point thickness (CFT), ORL thickness at fovea, and subfoveal choroidal thickness.
Results:
The ORL thickness was significantly thinner in diabetic macular edema group (85.3 μm) than controls (99.9 μm) (P = 0.002). There was higher significant correlation between ORL thickness and logMAR VA (r = -0.87, P < 0.001) than correlation between CFT and VA (r = 0.18, P = 0.16). The cutoff point of the relationship between ORL thickness and VA was 88 μm with moderate sensitivity (81%) and high specificity (88%), below which vision is affected. Outer retinal layer thickness is significantly related to subfoveal choroidal thickness but not CFT.
Conclusion:
This study revealed reduction in ORL thickness in diabetic macular edema. There is a higher and stronger correlation between ORL thickness and vision than that between CFT and vision.
