Correlation of Central foveal thickness, best corrected visual acuity and cystoid macular edema in diabetic and non-diabetic patients post cataract surgery using Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography

Purpose: To find out and compare Central foveal thickness (CFT), Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA), and Cystoid Macular Edema (CME) after uneventful cataract surgery among normal and diabetic patients without retinopathy using SD-Optical Coherence Tomography (SDOCT). Study Design: Prospective cohort study Methods: Patients were divided into 2 groups- Diabetic patients without retinopathy without macular changes and Non-diabetic patients without retinal involvement. Thirty patients were included in each group with a follow-up period of 3 months in which CFT, BCVA, and CME after cataract surgery were compared from pre-op values in both groups. Statistical analysis used: Statistical testing was conducted with the statistical package for the social science system version SPSS 17.0. Results: A statistically insignificant difference was found when BCVA was compared among post-op patients in both groups. CFT showed a significant increase when compared to pre-op values in both groups but by the end of 3 months post-op, there was an insignificant decline in CFT in the diabetic group and a significant decline in the non-diabetic group. The incidence of Cystoid Macular Edema (CME) was found to be higher in diabetic patients in this study. Conclusions: Diabetic patients are more prone to an increase in CFT after cataract surgery without affecting vision as these changes in CFT were at the subclinical level which did not affect BCVA. So OCT is a non-invasive effective tool for detecting subclinical CME and may be used to prevent its progression to clinical CME