Optical coherence tomography characteristics of active and regressed retinal neovessels secondary to proliferative diabetic retinopathy before and after panretinal photocoagulation

Aim: To describe the changes in the appearance of diabetic neovascularization and vitreoretinal interface before and after panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) using high-resolution spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Design: A prospective noncomparative observational case series study was performed on 15 eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Patients and Methods: Patients with PDR were scanned using SD-OCT scans directly over the region of the neovessels before and after PRP treatment. Results: The study included 15 treatment-naive eyes with PDR of 11 patients, 8 females and 3 males with a mean age of 54.18 ± 10.9 years (range 29–65 years). The mean best-corrected logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution visual acuity was 0.68 ± 0.19 (range 0.4–1). One (9.1%) case had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (type 1) and 10 (9.1%) cases had noninsulin-dependent diabetes (type 2). Posterior hyaloid was detached and identifiable in pretreatment SD-OCT scans in 11 (73.33% of studied eyes) eyes and not identifiable in 4 (36.67%) eyes. Changes in SD-OCT scan appearance after PRP included progression of posterior hyaloid separation with possible progressive retinal traction and retinoschisis, consolidation of the neovessels, regression of neovessels, or occurrence of preretinal hemorrhage. One case showed no visible change at the vitreoretinal interface. Conclusion: There are changes in the appearance of the diabetic neovessels and the vitreoretinal interface after PRP treatment that could be detected by SD-OCT.