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. 2019 Nov;126(11):1527-1532.
doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2019.05.034. Epub 2019 Jun 8.

Quantitative Ultra-Widefield Angiography and Diabetic Retinopathy Severity: An Assessment of Panretinal Leakage Index, Ischemic Index and Microaneurysm Count

Justis P Ehlers  1 , Alice C Jiang  2 , Joseph D Boss  3 , Ming Hu  4 , Natalia Figueiredo  5 , Amy Babiuch  6 , Katherine Talcott  6 , Sumit Sharma  6 , Jenna Hach  5 , Thuy Le  5 , Alison Rogozinski  5 , Leina Lunasco  5 , Jamie L Reese  5 , Sunil K Srivastava  6
Affiliations

Quantitative Ultra-Widefield Angiography and Diabetic Retinopathy Severity: An Assessment of Panretinal Leakage Index, Ischemic Index and Microaneurysm Count

Justis P Ehlers et al. Ophthalmology. 2019 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between the diabetic retinopathy (DR) severity and quantitative ultra-widefield angiographic metrics, including leakage index, ischemic index, and microaneurysm count.

Design: Retrospective image analysis study.

Methods: Eyes with DR that had undergone ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography (UWFA) with associated color photography were identified. All eyes were laser-naive and had not received any intravitreal pharmacotherapy within 6 months of UWFA. Each eye was graded for DR severity. Quantitative angiographic parameters were evaluated with a semiautomated analysis platform with expert reader correction, as needed. Angiographic parameters included panretinal leakage index, ischemic index, and microaneurysm count. Clinical characteristics analyzed included age, gender, race, hemoglobin A1C level, hypertension, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and smoking history.

Main outcome measures: Association of DR severity with panretinal leakage index, ischemic index, and microaneurysm count.

Results: Three hundred thirty-nine eyes were included with mean age of 62±13 years. Forty-two percent of eyes were from women and 57.5% were from men. Distribution of DR severity was as follows: mild NPDR in 11.2%, moderate NPDR in 23.9%, severe NPDR in 40.1%, and PDR with 24.8%. Panretinal leakage index [mild NPDR (mean = 0.51%), moderate NPDR mean = 1.20%, severe NPDR (mean = 2.75%), and PDR (mean = 5.84%); P<2×10-16], panretinal ischemic index [mild NPDR (mean = 0.95%, moderate NPDR (mean = 1.37%), severe NPDR (mean = 2.80%), and PDR (mean = 9.53%); P<2×10-16], and panretinal microaneurysm count [mild NPDR (mean = 36), moderate NPDR (mean = 129), severe NPDR (mean = 203), and PDR (mean = 254); P<5×10-7] were strongly associated with DR severity. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that ischemic index and leakage index were the parameters associated most strongly with level of DR severity.

Conclusions: Panretinal leakage index, panretinal ischemic index, and panretinal microaneurysm count are associated with DR severity. Additional research is needed to understand the clinical implications of these parameters related to progression risk, prognosis, and implications for therapeutic response.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: There are no specific conflict of interest related to this manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Representative Examples of Quantitative Ultra-widefield Angiographic Analysis.
Segmented areas of panretinal ischemia, panretinal microaneurysms (MA), and panretinal leakage assessment in varied diabetic retinopathy (DR) severity. The blue line indicates the ROI, or the total analyzable retina. NPDR: nonproliferative DR. PDR: Proliferative DR.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Association of Ultra-widefield Angiographic Quantitative Metrics and Diabetic Retinopathy Severity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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