Quantitative Analysis of Changes in Hard Exudates in Diabetic Retinopathy Patients Taking Oral Supplements

Purpose:To quantitatively analyze the effects of various oral supplements on changes in hard exudates in patients with diabetic retinopathy. Methods:The medical records of patients with diabetic retinopathy with hard exudates who were taking one type of oral supplement for more than 12 months were retrospectively analyzed.Patients were divided into Vitis vinifera seed dried extract (Enteron ), Vaccinium myrtillus extract (Qretin ), and sulodexide (Vessel Due F ) groups according to the oral supplement taken.Optical coherence tomography was analyzed using an automated program to measure and compare the volume of hard exudates.Results: The Enteron group included 44 eyes 31 patients, the Qretin group included 35 eyes 25 patients, and the Vessel Due F group included 22 eyes 15 patients.After 12 months of oral supplementation, hard exudates decreased in all oral supplement groups, but only the Qretin group showed a significant decrease, from 0.08910 0.08958 mm 3 to 0.04773 0.05473 mm 3 .Changes in hard exudates were not significantly different among the oral supplement groups.In multivariate regression analysis, the larger was the volume of hard exudates before oral supplementation, the greater was the decrease in volume after 12 months of oral supplementation.Conclusions: Vaccinium myrtillus extract supplementation for 12 months was associated with improvement in hard exudates in diabetic retinopathy.However, there was no difference in the change of hard exudates across the three groups.