Inflammatory Biomarkers by Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography in Diabetic Maculopathy

Aims: To assess the prevalence of inflammatory markers in diabetic patients with macular edema and to assess some factors related to it. Patients and methods: This is a cross -section study enrolled patients with diabetic maculopathy, the study was carried out at Jenna Ophthalmic Center in Baghdad between February 2023 and April 2023 including diabetic patients type 2 with diabetic macular edema with no history of previous intravitreal injections or laser therapy. All patients were examined by swept -source optical coherence tomography (OCT) to examine for inflammatory and other biomarkers. Results: This study enrolled 81 diabetic patients, with a mean age of 56.53± 8.18 years, 42 (51.9%) signs of inflammation on OCT. The inflammatory biomarkers that were identified included 12/42 (28.6%) with hyper -reflective foci (HRF), 36/42 (85.7%) with subretinal fluid (SRF). There was a statistically significant difference in central macular thickness between cases with positive HRF±SRF and negative HRF±SRF, as the CMT was 427.1±100.67 µm in negative cases while it was 510.26±123.66 µm in positive cases (P -value =0.001). Conclusion: Inflammatory biomarkers on OCT should not be ignored anymore, and central macular thickness should not be the sole factor that is depended on during follow -up.