Optical coherence tomography features during the evolution of serous retinal detachment in patients with diabetic macular edema

PURPOSE: To characterize the evolution of serous retinal detachment (SRD) combined with diabetic macular edema (DME) using optical coherence tomography (OCT). DESIGN: Observational retrospective case series. METHODS: In our institution, 64 eyes of 40 diabetic patients who had SRD combined with DME were studied. All patients had fluorescein angiography and several OCT3 examinations during follow,up. Foveolar neuroretinal thickness (NRT) and SRD height were measured. The evolution of OCT macular profiles was qualitatively assessed. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 11.8 months. DME was focal in 10 eyes (15.6%), diffuse in 17 (26.6%) and both diffuse and focal in 37 (57.8%). Mean initial decimal visual acuity (VA), NRT, and SRD height (+/- standard deviation) were 0.35 +/- 0.21, 346.88 +/- 138.61 and 199.48 +/- 139.8 mu m, respectively. SRD height did not correlate with VA (P = .23) or NRT (P = .31). In 13 eyes (20.3%), NRT above the SRD was normal. In the 19 eyes where DME improved during follow-up, SRD disappeared before the maximal reduction of retinal thickness in seven eyes (36.8%) and after or simultaneously with this reduction, in 12 eyes (63.2%). Among the 45 eyes where DME worsened during follow-up, SRD disappeared from 15 eyes (33.3%). CONCLUSION: In this series, SRD height did not correlate with retinal thickening. The latter may appear before central neuroretinal thickening and disappear before or after its regression. Consequently, SRD does not seem to be related either to the severity of DME or to its resorption.