Correlation of multicolor images and conventional color fundus photographs with foveal autofluorescence patterns in diabetic macular edema

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to assess the ability of multicolour imaging (MCI) to detect foveal cysts in diabetic macular edema (DME) and compare it with conventional color fundus photography (CFP) and foveal autofluorescence (FAF) pattern. METHODS: It was a retrospective review of 112 eyes of 84 DME patients with central foveal thickness ≥250 μ who underwent MCI, CFP and shortwave autofluorescence imaging. MCI was performed with Sepctralis spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) (Heidelberg Engineering, Germany). RESULTS: 97 (86.6%) eyes had cystoid increased autofluorescence (cystoid iFAF), 9 (8%) had spot iFAF and 6 (5.35%) had irregular decreased FAF (dFAF). Among eyes with cystoid iFAF, OCT detected DME cysts in 93 (95.6%) eyes, MCI in 75 (77.3%) and CFP in 5 (5.15%) eyes. In all these eyes, the location of cysts on OCT and MCI corresponded with the location of cystoid iFAF, whereas none of the eyes with cyst seen on CFP correlated with the location of cystoid iFAF. CONCLUSION: MCI was superior to CFP in detecting DME cysts at fovea. It also correlated with hyperautofluorescence pattern in these eyes. MCI may have a potential role in diabetic retinopathy screening by segregating eyes with DME which would require treatment. Our findings need to be further validated in a larger and prospective study design.