Toronto tele-retinal screening program for detection of diabetic retinopathy and macular edema.

Background: There are currently low rates of screening for diabetic retinopathy (DR) and sight-threatening diabetic macular edema (DME) in Ontario.

Objective: To present results of the Toronto Tele-Retinal screening program for patients with diabetes mellitus and to evaluate thebenefit of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in combination with monoscopic colour fundus photographs for detection of DME.

Methods: All electronic medical records for adults with type I and II diabetes mellitus screened through the Toronto Tele-Retinal screening program between September 2013 to August 2017 across 7 sc~reening sites in urban and rural settings were reviewed. Monoscopic colour fundus photographs were graded for presence or absence of DR and DME alone and in combination with OCT scans.

Results: A total of 775 patient screens, consisting of 566 first-time screens and 209 re-screens were completed over the 48-month study period. Approximately 37% of all patients with a mean disease duration of 7years had never had an eye examination. Across the sample, 27% of patients had DR, with majority graded to have mild DR, whereas DME was detected in 5% of patients in at least 1 eye. Of all DME detected in the Toronto Tele-Retinal screening program, 38% required the use of adjunct OCT. Other pathologies, including age-related macular degeneration (19%) and glaucomatous or optic nerve findings (8%), were also identified.

Conclusion: Tele-retinal screening programs may circumvent low rates of DR screening for patients with diabetes mellitus and increase the rate of detection of DME with monoscopic colour fundus photographs and adjunct OCT.