Evaluation of Macular Thickness Changes after Uncomplicated Phacoemulsification Surgery in Healthy Subjects and Diabetic Patients without Retinopathy by Spectral Domain OCT

Purpose: To assess differences in the evolution of macular thickness after uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery between non-diabetic subjects and patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) without diabetic retinopathy (DR), using Spectral Domain OCT (SD-OCT). Methods: We performed a unicentric prospective study including one hundred and thirty-one eyes of 70 patients divided into two groups-34 well-controlled DM patients without DR and 36 non-diabetic subjects-who underwent phacoemulsification for cataract surgery. Eyes that developed pseudophakic cystoid macular edema (PCME) were excluded from the study, leaving us with 64 patients. Macular thickness was analyzed using Cirrus HD-OCT (Macular Cube 512 x 128 protocol) preoperatively and on postoperative days 7, 30, 90, and 180. For cases with information available for both eyes, one eye was randomly selected for analysis. Results: A total of 64 eyes from 64 patients were analyzed in this study. The mean value of HbA1c in the diabetic group was 7%. After uncomplicated cataract surgery, patients showed no increase of the foveal, parafoveal, and perifoveal retinal thickness on postoperative day 7. However, thickness values increased on days 30, 90, and 180 after surgery in both groups, and peak at 90 days. There was no difference in macular thickness before or after surgery between DM and non-diabetic patients (p = 0.540). Conclusion: Macular thickness increases up to 6 months after uncomplicated cataract surgery in both DM patients without DR and non-diabetic subjects, with no differences between increases in both groups.