Ocular photographs could help detect diabetes

ocular photographs could help detect diabetes in their first phase

A new instrument to examine the view could help doctors detect diabetes in their first phase and facilitate their early treatment to avoid vision problems derived from this disease, according to a study released today.

The device, developed by two scientists from the Kellog Ocular Center of the University of Michigan, captures images of the eye to detect metabolic stress and tissue damage that occur before the first symptoms of the disease are evident.Professors Víctor Elner and Howard R. Petty explain the study they have carried out with this new instrument in the July edition of the "Archives of Ophtalmology" magazine.

The instrument takes a specialized photograph of the eye and analyzes the metabolic stress of the retina, measuring the intensity of cell fluorescence in the tissue.

As the scientists explained, the high levels of the autofluorescence of flavoprotein (AF) act as an indicator of the eye disease.

Elner and Petty measured the levels of AF in the tissue of the retina of twenty -one individuals who had diabetes and compared them to the results of healthy individuals in groups of the same ages.
In the analysis of the results they warned that AF activity was significantly higher for individuals with diabetes, regardless of their gravity, than those who did not have it.

According to Petty, it is known that hyperglycemia - or high blood sugar level - induces the death of cells in the diabetic tissue shortly after the beginning of the disease but before the symptoms can be detected clinically.
"The increased activity of AF is the earliest indicator that the death of cells has occurred and that the tissue begins to deteriorate," he said.

The AF, he explained, works as a "spectral biomarker" that states that metabolism has been upset and, thus, said, "the results obtained can be used for the detection and observation of the disease."

Professor Elner said that "the damage that occurs before a doctor can detect the disease" is a lot so that the early diagnosis "will reduce damage to the organs and prevent many complications that accompany this disease."

In the United States, about 24 million people suffer from diabetes and another 57 million people have abnormal levels of blood sugar that qualify them as pre-diabetics, according to the most recent report of the centers for the control and prevention of diseases.

In addition, 4.1 million people over 40 years of age suffer from diabetic retinopathy, an ocular complication related to diabetes that is the main cause of blindness among adults of working age.

Petty is a professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and microbiology and immunology at the School of Medicine of the U.M.and Elner is a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences of the School of Medicine at the same University.

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