[Functional diagnostics of retinal ischemia: Muller cells and neovascularization of the retina in diabetic retinopathy].

Electrography was made for 58 patients (110 eyes) with proliferative diabetic retinopathy distinguished by neovascularization. Fluorescence angiography and electroretinography were dynamically made for 1-1.5 years in 18 patients with preproliferative diabetic retinopathy. The hyperfunction of Muller cells with an increasing glial index, which was detected earlier by us in progressing retinal ischemia, was also observed in retinal neovascularization. The regular monitoring of the dynamics of electroretinogram (ERG, made several times) makes it possible to evaluate in each separate case a degree of neovascularization risk. When the value of the glial index abruptly drops in a patient, who had earlier regular increases in the index value, there is a high probability of a fast development of retinal neovascularization. Regular ERG examinations are advisable for the evaluation of a neovascularization risk.