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©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Apr 15, 2021; 12(4): 437-452
Published online Apr 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i4.437
Published online Apr 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i4.437
Malfunction of outer retinal barrier and choroid in the occurrence and progression of diabetic macular edema
Ştefan Ţălu, Directorate of Research, Development and Innovation Management (DMCDI), Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca 400020, Romania
Simona Delia Nicoara, Department of Ophthalmology, Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400012, Romania
Author contributions: Ţălu S and Nicoară SD contributed equally to this work; Ţălu S and Nicoară SD designed the research study, performed the research, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. The authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Simona Delia Nicoara, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Full Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 8 Victor Babes St, Cluj-Napoca 400012, Romania. simonanicoara1@gmail.com
Received: January 13, 2021
Peer-review started: January 13, 2021
First decision: February 12, 2021
Revised: February 23, 2021
Accepted: March 24, 2021
Article in press: March 24, 2021
Published online: April 15, 2021
Processing time: 85 Days and 9.9 Hours
Peer-review started: January 13, 2021
First decision: February 12, 2021
Revised: February 23, 2021
Accepted: March 24, 2021
Article in press: March 24, 2021
Published online: April 15, 2021
Processing time: 85 Days and 9.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Progress in optical coherence tomography technology allowed the identification of new pathogenic pathways in diabetic macular edema (DME) involving the outer retina and underlying choroid. The presence of fluid in the subretinal space is suggestive for the alteration of the outer blood retinal barrier and responds better to intravitreal triamcinolone as compared to anti- vascular endothelial growth factor. The disruption of external limiting membrane (ELM) is associated with visual impairment being a predictor of poor outcomes following the treatment with triamcinolone. The integrity of ELM and of the inner segment/outer segment line was found to correlate positively with best corrected visual acuity in DME.