In vivo assessment of corneal endothelial function in diabetes mellitus
J. S. Saini and S. Mittal
Department of Ophthalmology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate in vivo corneal endothelial function in patients
with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with or without diabetic
retinopathy. METHODS: In age-matched samples of 45 eyes of diabetic
patients and 15 eyes of healthy control subjects, corneal endothelial
function was evaluated by using pachometric measurements of the cornea
following hydrophilic contact lens wear of low oxygen transmissibility.
Corneal deswelling regression was quantitated to arrive at the percentage
recovery per hour as an index of endothelial function. The status of
retinopathy was determined in diabetic patients by using standard criteria.
RESULTS: In patients with diabetes mellitus and diabetic retinopathy, the
assessed mean (+/- SD) value for the percentage recovery per hour following
contact lens-induced edema was 40.03% +/- 7.27%, which was significantly
lower than in eyes without changes of diabetic retinopathy (54.31% +/-
6.88%). Also, diabetic patients without retinopathy had a significantly
lower percentage recovery per hour than did healthy control subjects
(65.27% +/- 12.02%). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates significantly
lower corneal endothelial function in patients with non-insulin-dependent
diabetes mellitus and thus suggests a higher potential to decompensate
following any deleterious stress.
