Effect of Blood Glucose Control on Retinal Vascular Permeability in Insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus
- S J Bleicher,
- T Y Lee,
- R Bernstein,
- L Schachter,
- R Temes,
- T Krupin,
- J Santiago,
- B Becker and
- S R Waltman
- Department of Medicine, The Brooklyn Hospital, and the Department of Medicine, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, and the Departments of Ophthalmology and Pediatrics and Clinical Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, Missouri, and St. Louis Children's Hospital
- Address reprint requests to S. J. Bleicher, M.D., Chairman, Department of Medicine, The Brooklyn Hospital, 121 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11201.
Abstract
Thirteen patients were instructed in a technique of self-management of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, using multiple home-monitored blood glucose determinations and multiple injections of regular insulin in conjunction with once-daily Ultra Lente insulin. Hemoglobin A1c and quantitative fluorescein fluorophotometry were used to assess blood glucose control and retinal permeability, respectively. In those patients achieving normal blood glucose control, retinal vascular leakage was statistically identical to that of a nondiabetic control population. In those patients less well controlled, retinal permeability did not differ statistically from values observed in a population of insulin-dependent diabetic patients under “standard” control. It is concluded that with “tight” control of blood sugar and normalized A1c hemoglobin, retinal permeability similarly is normalized.
- Copyright © 1980 by the American Diabetes Association
