White Dots as a Novel Marker of Diabetic Retinopathy Severity in Ultrawide Field Imaging

PURPOSE: To characterize white dots in diabetic retinopathy (DR) and their association with disease severity using ultra-wide-field scanning laser ophthalmoscopy. METHODS: We randomly selected 125 eyes of 77 patients (25 eyes from individual categories of the international classification of DR severity) for which ultrawide field photographs were obtained. We characterized white dots, which were delineated by higher signal levels on green but not red laser images, and evaluated the relationship between the number of white dots and the international severity scale of DR. RESULTS: Most white dots were located in nonperfused areas, and the number of total white dots was significantly correlated to that of dots in nonperfused areas. White dots corresponded to microaneurysms around the boundary between nonperfused areas and perfused areas or unknown lesions in nonperfused areas. Eyes with DR had significantly more white dots than those with no apparent retinopathy. The numbers of white dots in moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) or more severe grades were significantly higher than in mild NPDR. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AROC) analyses demonstrated that the number of white dots had the significance in the diagnosis of DR (0.908–0.986) and moderate NPDR or more severe grades (0.888–0.974). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest the clinical relevance of white dots seen on ultrawide field images in the diagnosis of the severity of DR.