The efficiency of first telemedicine application of fundus photograph for the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy in Turkey

Abstract

Objective: Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common causes of preventable and treatable blindness in adulthood. Systemic screening with regular eye examination can prevent vision loss and blindness related to diabetic retinopathy. Our study aimed to see the efficiency of telemedicine application of fundus photograph for the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy. Methods:We retrospectively compared the patients' follow-up situation for diabetic retinopathy screening from two different diabetic centers between January 2018 and January 2019. We recruited 3539 diabetic patients. Among these patients, 1883 of them were referred to ophthalmologist from the first diabetes center, which is located on the main campus of hospital and in the second center which is located away from the hospital, 1656 patients' digital photographs were taken. These images were transmitted through a telemedicine system to an expert ophthalmologist for evaluation. Results:As a result of the study, we saw that only 933 of 1883 (49.5%) patients had admitted to the ophthalmologist for retinopathy control. On the other hand, among the patients who were screened by a digital photograph with telemedicine method, almost all of the patients were evaluated (1589 of 1656) and only 67 (4%) of them could not be evaluated due to imaging problems. It is obviously seen that in the second center much more people had been evaluated when compared to the first center (933 [49.5%] vs. 1589 [96%]; p<0.05). Conclusion:Our study confirmed that the use of the retinal photographing intertwined with the telemedicine system should be used more widely into provide regular screening of diabetic retinopathy.