Deviation Maps for Understanding Thickness Changes of Inner Retinal Layers in Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Enhanced Grid-Based Visual Analysis of Retinal Layer Thickness with Optical Coherence Tomography

“…In contrast, subdivided grids from the T1DM group rather consisted of smaller cells due to a higher subdivision rate, hinting at the presence of more localized areas of abnormal thickness (e.g., grids of TR in Figure 11b). This is in line with our previous map-based findings of localized thickness changes in T1DM patients [27]. Possible reasons for the differences in the present study findings are the longer mean duration of disease in T2DM patients (T1DM: 5.6 years; T2DM: 13.3 years) and the inclusion of T2DM patients with mild to moderate diabetic neuropathy.…”

“…Hence, we again hypothesized that such changes are not always adequately captured by a current analysis approach based on ETDRS grids. In fact, we were recently able to confirm the existence of localized areas of abnormal thickness in patients with early T1DM using a point-by-point data analysis based on deviation maps [27]. In the present studies, we aimed at obtaining similar results with our enhanced grid-based analysis, while reducing the data to a meaningful extent.…”

“…We presented an enhanced grid-based reduction and exploration approach for retinal thickness data. Our solutions are a continuation of our previous work, in which we introduced the general design of our research prototype [26] and evaluated first studies using deviation maps [27,39]. Here, we extended this basis with a new grid design for precise detection of localized thickness variations and bundled the developed techniques in a flexible visual analysis tool.…”

“…This helps to reveal retinal changes, which may be difficult to identify by visualizing the raw OCT data alone. While recently there has been progress in the comparative visualization of thickness maps in OCT data [26,27], thickness grids are still predominantly used in most ophthalmic applications. One reason for this is that thickness maps, albeit being spatially precise, can be unnecessarily complex compared to simpler grids in certain situations and they tend to be more difficult to analyze with respect to anatomically distinct retinal areas.…”

Thickness of Intraretinal Layers in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Depending on a Concomitant Diabetic Neuropathy: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study Using Deviation Maps for OCT Data Analysis

“…Optical coherence tomography (OCT) [1] is an established method for detecting early signs of neurodegenerative changes in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Previous retinal OCT studies [2][3][4][5][6] have clearly demonstrated changes in the thickness profiles of distinct neuronal layers, primarily involving the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner plexiform layer (IPL) in pediatric and adult DM patients at an early stage or even before any manifestation of clinical signs of microangiopathy (e.g., diabetic retinopathy (DR)). Such changes are thought to serve as biomarkers for the identification of patients at risk of developing DR.…”