Background: Diabetic macular edema (DME) results from breakdown of retinal vasculature integrity and hemodynamic abnormalities. Choroidal thickness is an important metric for the blood flow and choroidal health.
Objective: To correlate Subfoveal Choroidal Thickness (SFCT) with central macular thickness (CMT) in DME with and without cystic changes by using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
Patients and Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 120 eyes of 68 diabetic patients, divided according to OCT macula into three equal groups: Group A: Diabetic patients with normal CMT, Group B: Have non-cystic diabetic macular edema and Group C: Have cystic diabetic macular edema. Measurements of CMT and SFCT by using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). This study was conducted at Ophthalmology Department, Bahteem hospital for specialized surgery, Health Insurance, during the period from August 2018 to February 2020.
Results: Sixty-eight patients had a mean age of 54.96 ± 8.36 years. The mean SFCT have insignificant correlation could be demonstrated between SFCT and CMT (r= –0.323, P= 0.45), in group B, a positive correlation was observed (r= 0.614, P=0.027), while in group C a negative correlation with CMT (r= –0.875, P=0.02). There was insignificant correlation could be demonstrated between SFCT and BCVA (LogMAR) in all groups: in group A (r= –0.251, P= 0.35), in the group B (r= –0.318, P=0.15), and in group C (r= –0.735, P=0.23).
Conclusion: Mean SFCT decrease with cystic changes in DME patients.