Ultra-wide field swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography in patients with diabetes without clinically detectable retinopathy

BACKGROUND: To investigate alterations in retinal microvasculature in eyes with preclinical diabetic retinopathy (DR) using ultra-wide field swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (UWF SS OCTA). METHODS: Prospective cross-sectional study. Fifty-five eyes of 30 diabetic patients without clinical retinal signs were included. All subjects underwent OCTA examination with a 12 × 12 mm(2) field of view of 5 visual fixations (1 central fixation and 4 peripheral fixations) to compose a UWF OCTA image. In the UWF images, the central area corresponded to the original central image obtained using central fixation, and the peripheral area was the remaining area. Lesions, including nonperfusion areas (NPAs), microvascular dilation and tortuosity, and neovascularization (NV), were recorded in different areas. Diabetes history was also recorded. RESULTS: Peripheral areas presented significantly more microvascular dilation and tortuosity than central areas (P = 0.024) and more NPAs than central areas, with borderline significance (P = 0.085). The number of lesion types was associated with HbA1c levels in the peripheral and overall areas (all P values < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: UWF SS OCTA is a promising imaging method for detecting vascular alterations in diabetic eyes without clinical signs to reveal retinal microvascular alterations. These alterations were correlated with systemic conditions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-021-01933-3.