Abstract
The involvement of the retina by diabetes mellitus (DM), diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness worldwide causing both impairment to the visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity (CS). In the last years, there has been a progress in the diagnosis and monitoring of retinal changes in this disease with the development of the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). Recently, due to the technological advancement of this ancillary test, it was possible to study the choroid, another tissue that is also affected by DM, Diabetic Choroidopathy (DC). It is currently believed that the choroid is related to the development of the DR because it is affected even before of the retina, so their study is now of paramount importance. Purpose: This research will evaluate: the thickness of the choroid (CT) in type 1 and 2 diabetics, at the different stages of DR; and CT correlation with macular retinal thickness and the consequent impact on visual function, visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity (CS).Methods: The type 1 and 2 diabetic patients in monitoring and/or treatment at the Clinic of Ophthalmology of the Hospital das Clinicas and Medical School of the University of São Paulo, will be submitted to a complete ophthalmological examination and a masked investigators will obtain, best corrected visual acuity with the Early Treatment Diabetic Study Retinopahy table, SC with Visual Contrast Sensitivity Test 6500 table, fluorescein angiography, OCT, ocular biometry, body weight and laboratory tests. The control group will be consisted of normal patients.Expected results: This study will enable us to analyze the changes that DM causes in the choroid at different stages of DR and its influence on visual function and DR development or deterioration. We expected reduction of CT in the eyes of diabetic patients, especially those with more advanced DR, which is also believed in those with diabetic macular edema (DME) and this finding probably will correlate to an increased in the thickness of the retina causing loss of the visual function, AV and SC.
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