Diabetic Retinopathy: Diagnostic Tests

Obligatory medical device diagnostics.

  • Ophthalmoscopy (ocular funduscopy)/binocular-biomicroscopic funduscopy with dilated (wide-drop) pupil for more accurate assessment of peripheral retinal components – imaging of the fundus to examine the retina (retina).
  • Refractometry (visual acuity test).
  • Slit lamp microscopy (synonym: slit lamp examination).

Optional medical device diagnostics – depending on the results of the history, physical examination and laboratory diagnostics – to determine secondary diseases of diabetes mellitus.

  • Optical coherence tomography (OCT); imaging procedure to examine the retina (retinal), vitreous humor, and optic nerve opticus (optic nerve) – for differential diagnosis of maculopathy (diseases of the eye affecting the macula lutea (also called “yellow spot“) of the retina) in patients with diabetes who are assessed as potentially requiring therapy; furthermore, for indication and follow-up of therapy for diabetic macular edema with intravitreal drugs (lat. intra = into, inside, within, and vitrum = glass or vitreous) means “into the vitreous”).
  • Cardiovascular diagnostics
    • Ankle-brachial index (ABI; examination method that can describe the risk of cardiovascular disease).
    • Doppler sonography (ultrasound examination that can dynamically visualize fluid flow (especially blood flow)) of the carotids (carotid artery) – detection of stenosis (narrowing), plaques (wall buildup), or intima-media thickening (IMT; IMD) of the carotids means a 2-6-fold increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack)
    • Exercise ECG (electrocardiogram during exercise, that is, under physical activity/exercise ergometry).
    • Cardio-computed tomography (cardio-CT) including measurement of coronary artery calcification (CAC; coronary artery calcification; CAC scan) – early detection of coronary sclerosis (CAC score; calcium score for risk estimation).
    • Cardiac catheterization examination
  • Renal sonography (ultrasound examination of the kidneys).
  • Electrocardiogram (ECG; recording of the electrical activity of the heart muscle).