Application of non-mydriatic fundus photography-assisted telemedicine in diabetic retinopathy screening

BACKGROUND Early screening and accurate staging of diabetic retinopathy(DR)can reduce blindness risk in type 2 diabetes patients.DR’s complex pathogenesis involves many factors,making ophthalmologist screening alone insufficient for prevention and treatment.Often,endocrinologists are the first to see diabetic patients and thus should screen for retinopathy for early intervention.AIM To explore the efficacy of non-mydriatic fundus photography(NMFP)-enhanced telemedicine in assessing DR and its various stages.METHODS This retrospective study incorporated findings from an analysis of 93 diabetic patients,examining both NMFP-assisted telemedicine and fundus fluorescein angiography(FFA).It focused on assessing the concordance in DR detection between these two methodologies.Additionally,receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were generated to determine the optimal sensitivity and specificity of NMFP-assisted telemedicine,using FFA outcomes as the standard benchmark.RESULTS In the context of DR diagnosis and staging,the kappa coefficients for NMFPassisted telemedicine and FFA were recorded at 0.775 and 0.689 respectively,indicating substantial intermethod agreement.Moreover,the NMFP-assisted telemedicine’s predictive accuracy for positive FFA outcomes,as denoted by the area under the ROC curve,was remarkably high at 0.955,within a confidence interval of 0.914 to 0.995 and a statistically significant P-value of less than 0.001.This predictive model exhibited a specificity of 100%,a sensitivity of 90.9%,and a Youden index of 0.909.CONCLUSION NMFP-assisted telemedicine represents a pragmatic,objective,and precise modality for fundus examination,particularly applicable in the context of endocrinology inpatient care and primary healthcare settings for diabetic patients.Its implementation in these scenarios is of paramount significance,enhancing the clinical accuracy in the diagnosis and therapeutic management of DR.This methodology not only streamlines patient evaluation but also contributes substantially to the optimization of clinical outcomes in DR management.

Comparison of central macular thickness between two spectral-domain optical coherence tomography in elderly non-mydriatic eyes

AIM: To compare central macular thickness (CMT) measurements obtained by two spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) exams, and to evaluate measurement reproducibility and agreement between these two exams, and to investigate the relationship between CMT and possible influencing factors such as age, sex, eye (OD/OS), and operators in elderly non-mydriatic eyes. METHODS: Seventy-two normal subjects were included. Every subject underwent CMT measurement twice using one of two SD-OCT (OSE-2000, Moptim, Shenzhen, China & 3-D OCT-1000, Topcon, Tokyo, Japan) instruments respectively where we randomly chose one eye in each patient for the test; these exams were performed by two operators over an hour period with a brief rest between sessions. Comparison of the OSE-2000 and 3-D OCT-1000 CMT measurements was based on paired- t test The mean difference between the CMT measurements was calculated. General linear model analyzed the relationships among eye (OD/OS), operator, sex, and CMT values using age as co-variant. All tests were considered statistically significant at P <0.05. The main outcome measures included CMT. RESULTS: When evaluated with general linear model analysis, CMT measurements were found to have high reproducibility across the two instruments between the two operators for the OSE-2000 single line scan and 3-D OCT-1000 macular scans (P=0.731; P=0.443). There was statistically significant difference in CMT values between the two instruments (P<0.001) and the mean difference was -46.83 mu m at 95% confidence limits (-49.15,-44.51). Age was positively correlated with CMT (beta coefficient =0.516, P=0.001; beta coefficient=0.453, P =0.009) and sex was correlated with CMT from the OSE-2000 (P=0.021) but not with the 3-D OCT-1000 (P=0.056). According to the actual thickness measurements, the CMT of the male was thicker than the female's but there was no statistical difference. There was interaction between sex and eye in OSE-2000 and not in 3-D OCT-1000 (P=0.02; P =0.374). No significant correlation was found between CMT and the influencing factor of eye in both of the instruments (P=0.884; P=0.492). CONCLUSION: Reproducibility of CMT measurement using the two SD-OCTs is excellent in normal eyes according to the operator factor analysis. OSE-2000 has a different posterior retinal boundary of CMT measurement, which results in the CMT value differences, compared with the 3-D OCT-1000. Age is positively correlated with CMT measurement while sex is correlated with CMT in the OSE-2000 but not in the 3-D OCT-1000 and eye (OD/OS) had no correlation with CMT values. Mydriatic drops may not be necessary for CMT measurement using high scan rate SD-OCT in normal eyes in dark room.