Progression of Diabetic Capillary Occlusion: A Model
Fig 1
Clinical background of diabetic retinopathy.
(A) Fundus image of patient with a 10 year history of type 2 diabetes mellitus showing hard exudates in the macula indicating edema [15]. Dot/blot hemorrhages, and some laser burns are also present. Image is taken with a standard color fundus camera. Resolution is adequate to see arterioles and venules but not the capillaries connecting them. For perspective the disk diameter is approximately 1450 microns. (B) Fluorescein angiogram of the diabetic fundus. The image shows areas that are ‘dark’ and therefore lack patent capillaries. These occur in various areas of the image. Certain vessels appear to lack sharpness because they show some leakage of the fluorescein dye through their walls; walls that would not leak if the normal blood retinal barrier were intact. This image shows the phenomenon this paper is primarily addressing, the occurrence of contiguous areas of capillary loss both in the macula and in the periphery in diabetic retinopathy.