Comparison of corneal endothelial cell morphology in type-2 diabetes and nondiabetics.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the values of hexagonality of endothelial cells among type-2 diabetics and nondiabetics. It also aimed at finding the correlation of the hexagonality of endothelial cells with the duration of diabetes, random blood sugar level, and severity of diabetic retinopathy in type-2 diabetics.

Materials and methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted for 8 months from January to August 2022. The data was collected from tertiary care eye hospital named Al-Shifa Trust Eye hospital jhelum road, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. After taking the informed consent, a complete history of each subject was taken. Visual acuity and refraction were performed using Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study visual acuity chart and then, complete slit-lamp anterior and posterior segment examination was performed followed by specular microscopy (TOMEY Specular Microscope EM-4000) to evaluate endothelial cell hexagonality. The diabetic subjects were checked for their random blood sugar levels immediately after specular microscopy using a digital glucometer and the readings were recorded.

Results: Results showed that the hexagonality of endothelial cells was statistically significantly lower (P = 0.000) in type-2 diabetics than in nondiabetics. Correlation analysis of the hexagonality of endothelial cells showed a negative correlation (P < 0.05) with random blood sugar levels while no correlation (P > 0.05) with the duration of diabetes and severity of diabetic retinopathy.

Conclusion: The study concluded that the hexagonality of endothelial cells was significantly different among the two groups under study, i.e., type-2 diabetics and nondiabetics.