• Tzu-En Wu and Harn-Shen Chen.
• Department of Ophthalmology, Shin-Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
• J Chin Med Assoc. 2018 Mar 1; 81 (3): 230-235.

BackgroundThis pilot study was carried to determine the prevalence of retinopathy, especially proliferative retinopathy, in patients with acromegaly.MethodsWe analyzed 43 acromegalic patients and 129 age- and gender-matched patients with type 2 diabetes. The retinopathy status was determined from the medical records based on the ophthalmologist consultations of patients with acromegaly. Color photographs of the macula- and disc-centered views were obtained at an angle of 45° with a fundus camera after pharmacologic-induced mydriasis in patients with type 2 diabetes.ResultsCompared with age- and gender-matched patients with type 2 diabetes, the acromegalic patients had lower fasting plasma glucose levels and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures, but were taller and had higher IGF-1 levels. Any degree of retinopathy was present in 9.3% (4 of 43) of patients with acromegaly and 34.9% (45 of 129) of patients with type 2 diabetes (odds ratio [OR] = 0.191; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.064-0.570). Proliferative retinopathy was present in 9.3% (4 of 43) of patients with acromegaly and 9.3% (12 of 129) of patients with type 2 diabetes (OR = 1.000; 95% CI = 0.305-3.281). Non-proliferative retinopathy was absent in patients with acromegaly, but present in 25.9% (33 of 129) of patients with type 2 diabetes.ConclusionThe high proliferative, but absence of non-proliferative retinopathy in our patients with acromegaly may reflect the pathogenic effect of IGF-1 on neovascularization. IGF-1 may play an important role in proliferative retinopathy, but may play no role in non-proliferative retinopathy.Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC.

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