Optical coherence tomography angiography in diabetes: A review

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy is a common diabetes complication representing a heavy burden in terms of visual impairment and heath expenditure. Optical coherence tomography angiography is a relatively new imaging method and has proven to be a powerful tool in the analysis of diabetic retinopathy common features, including microaneurysms, intraretinal microvascular abnormalities, or neovascularization, as well as in research field, challenging the gold standard of fluorescein angiography. Many studies underlined the vascular impairment observed through optical coherence tomography angiography and its typical parameters such as vessel length density, foveal avascular zone, and fractal dimension. Choriocapillaris involvement in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy is an interesting point, derived from the analysis of this plexus using optical coherence tomography angiography. In conclusion, optical coherence tomography angiography, which is not free of limitations, such as motion artifacts or segmentation errors, has become an indispensable technique in adding more information to our understanding of diabetic retinopathy.