DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i01.023

Pages: 108-111

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness. It is established that screening for diabetic retinopathy saves vision at a relatively low cost. Early detection of sightthreatening diabetic retinopathy and treatment with laser therapy can prevent visual impairment and most patients can be saved from major visual loss. So we have done this study to compare the effectiveness and sensitivity between slit-lamp biomicroscopy & fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) in diagnosing diabetic retinopathy at an early stage. The study was done prospectively over a period of 1year and 8 months (01.09.2011 to 30.04.2013). Patients presented with diabetes in the department of medicine and ophthalmology was identified and diabetic retinopathy grading obtained from slit lamp biomicroscopy & FFA. A total 192 patients were examined. Grading was done using ETDRS (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study) criteria. Patient’s examination included Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA), anterior segment examination, and slit-lamp biomicroscopy during mydriasis and FFA during mydriasis. A total 383 eyes were examined by two ophthalmologists for diabetic retinopathy grading on slit-lamp biomicroscopy and FFA. The sensitivity of slitlamp biomicroscopy in diagnosing diabetic retinopathy was 89.14%, with a specificity of 93.6%. The degree of agreement kappa was 0.83 and p value (0.27) was considered statistically significant (p<0.05). Slit lamp biomicroscopy is a highly sensitive method for screening diabetic retinopathy grading in diabetes patients.