Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication that occurs due to prolonged hyperglycemia. In the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, patients are generally asymptomatic; in the more advanced stages of the disease severe clinical manifestations appears, which include blurred vision floaters, distortion, blurred vision and progressive visual acuity loss. Signs of diabetic retinopathy include the following: dot and blot hemorrhages, micro-aneurysms, flame-shaped hemorrhages, cotton-wool spots, retinal edema and hard exudates, intra-retinal micro-vascular abnormalities and macular edema. DR is currently one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide with an incidence rate of 5% and 60% uncertainty in clinical diagnosis. The current diagnostic clinical practice of DR uses fundus imaging employing opthalmoscope Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Fluorescence Angiography (FA). It is unlikely that a single imaging test will offer all the answers to clinical predicaments; however, multiplexing several imaging modalities that are specific to disease conditions in a single examination and coupling this with therapeutic opportunities may truly advance the diagnosis for comprehensive understanding of pathobiology of diabetic retinopathy.
