الفهرس 
Chapter (I)Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 261 |  |  |
| | | from | 261 | | |
Abstract
Diabetes mellitus (DM) affects every part of the body, and the eye is not an
exception. It is a major cause of visual loss in the working-age population
worldwide. Even though retinopathy is the most common sequel and most
widely studied association of DM, other structures of the eye are not immune
and get affected in various stages of the disease. Patients with DM are prone to
developing corneal endothelial damage, such as endothelial defects, punctate
epithelial keratopathy, recurrent corneal erosions and persistent epithelial
defects. Indeed, although diabetic keratopathy (DK) is often subclinical, it may
occur in up to 70% of patients with DM.
Considering the indispensable role of corneal endothelium in maintaining
corneal clarity, several researchers have investigated the possible alterations that
take place in endothelium in patients with DM. A damaged endothelium results
in corneal oedema, and increased central corneal thickness (CCT), among other
causative factors. This increase has been documented in patients with DM as
compared with healthy controls in a large number of studies.
Some studies have shown a significant correlation of CCT to the duration of
DM, whereas a study conducted by Choo et al., (5) showed no correlation of the
duration of DM, glycosylated hemoglobin (HBA1c) level, and severity of
diabetic retinopathy (DR) with any of the corneal morphological parameters. The
other parameters like coefficient of variation (CV), endothelial cell density
(ECD), and hexagonality of cells (Hex) have also been a focus of interest in
many studies, but the results have been inconsistent.
Interestingly, very few studies have analyzed the association of the severity
of DR and the duration of DM with the altered corneal endothelial parameters.
A recent study by El-Agami et al found no significant changes in these
parameters with the severity of DR, and no correlation with duration of DM,
HbA1c, and DR severity.
So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the association of severity of
diabetic retinopathy with corneal endothelial and thickness changes in diabetic
patients.
To elucidate our aim, this study was a cross section case control study
conducted on 46 eyes of both genders with diabetes mellitus and healthy to
evaluate the association of severity of diabetic retinopathy with corneal
endothelial and thickness changes in diabetic patients. at ophthalmology
Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, during the period time from April 2022 to December 2022.