Evaluation of the optic nerve head with the heidelberg retina tomograph in diabetes mellitus.

Background: To evaluate the optic nerve head by means of the Heidelberg retina tomograph (HRT) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: The study group consisted of 47 patients with DM [group 1; 29 patients without diabetic retinopathy (DR) and 18 patients with non-proliferative DR] and 50 normal subjects (group 2). All patients and controls underwent a complete ophthalmological examination, and the optic nerve head topography of both eyes was evaluated by using HRT-I. One eye of these cases was randomly selected for statistical analysis. Glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA(1c)) levels of all the study participants were measured.

Results: The HRT parameters were similar between diabetic and control groups (p > 0.05). In group 1, in the patients with duration of diabetes < or =10 years, when compared with the patients with duration of diabetes >10 years, we did not detect any statistically significant difference between the HRT parameters (p > 0.05). There was no statistically significant correlation between HBA(1c) levels and rim volume (r = -0.078, p = 0.601), and mean retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (r = 0.058, p = 0.700) in DM patients.

Conclusion: These results suggest that non-glaucomatous diabetic patients had no decreased neuroretinal rim when compared with non-diabetic patients.