The blood-retinal barrier permeability in diabetic patients

By the of aid an extended corpus vitreum fluorophotometric technique, the blood-retinal barrier permeability for fluorescein was studied in diabetologically well characterized patients with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. The method, which involves simultaneous determination of the fluorescein concentration in corpus vitreum and plasma, is described and discussed. A clear correlation was found between the degree of retinopathy and permeability (P). Patients with normal visus, ophthalmoscophy, fundus photo and fluorescence angiography exhibited P-values of 1.10(-7) cm . sec-1. This was similar to P-values found in normal volunteers. Simplex retinopathy without macular oedema showed values of 2.5 . 10(-7) cm . sec-1 while simplex retinopathy with macular oedema showed P-values of 10 . 10(-7) cm . sec-1.