Diabetic Retinopathy Disease Summary

Overview

As stated in the Introduction section, diabetic retinopathy is a progressive retinal disorder that occurs in almost all patients with chronic diabetes mellitus (DM).  

As mentioned in the Epidemiology section, diabetic retinopathy is the principal cause of impaired vision in patients aged 25-74 years. It is one of the leading causes of preventable vision impairment and blindness worldwide. Other details regarding its prevalence are also discussed in this section.

The Pathophysiology section discusses how diabetic retinopathy is the result of different biochemical changes due to diabetes which is accompanied by an increase in blood retinal barrier permeability and an increase in retinal blood flow.

The Risk Factors section lists the major risk factors and other contributing factors in the development of diabetic retinopathy. While the Classification section discusses the different types of diabetic retinopathy.

History and Physical Examination

The signs and symptoms of diabetic retinopathy are detailed in the Clinical Presentation section. As discussed in the History section, history taking involves looking into the chronicity of DM, including level of control, other pertinent details in medical history, and even ocular history. Various ocular examination methods are detailed in the Physical Examination section.

The Screening section emphasizes the importance of regular eye examination for DM patients and the recommended schedule.   

Diagnosis

The different laboratory tests used to monitor or assess control and severity of diabetes are discussed in the Laboratory Tests and Ancillaries section. In the Imaging section, the different ophthalmologic exams (eg fluorescein angiography, color fundus photography, optical coherence tomography [OCT]) are detailed.

Management

The levels of urgency referral criteria are discussed in the Evaluation section.

The Pharmacological Therapy section discusses in detail treatment options for diabetic retinopathy.

Patient education, which includes recognizing symptoms and possible disease progression and DM control, are discussed in the Nonpharmacological section.

The Surgery section details surgical interventions such as laser photocoagulation and vitrectomy. Lastly, the recommended schedules and exams are mentioned in the Monitoring section.