Abstract: Objective To assess the value of Heidelberg retina tomograph-Ⅱ(HRT-Ⅱ)and optical coherence tomography(OCT)on making a diagnosis of macular edema in patients with background diabetic retinopathy.Methods Eighty eyes of 40 patients with background diabetic retinopathy were divided into the macular edema group and non-macular edema group according to examination of fluorescein fundus angiography(FFA).Macular thickness was measured by OCT and edema index was invested by HRT-Ⅱ.The results were analyzed by statistics test.Results The Kappa value of OCT examination on diagnosis for macular edema of background diabetic retinopathy was bigger than the HRT-Ⅱ.Making FFA as the diagnosis standard of macular edema,OCT examination showed P=0.0001,HRT-Ⅱ examination showed P=0.0856.Conclusion OCT and HRT-Ⅱ can be used to quantitate the macular edema of the diabetic retinopathy patients.OCT is better in the final diagnosis for macular edema than HRT-Ⅱ,and HRT-Ⅱ has higher misdiagnosis rate and lower missed diagnosis rate.HRT-Ⅱ can be used to screen macular edema patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Key words: background diabetic retinopathy, macular edema, diagnosis