AIM: To analyze the relationship between retinal function and retinal thickness in fovea in the patients of nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy(NPDR)without macular edema.

METHODS:Multifocal electronic retinography(mfERG)and Spectralis optical coherence tomography(Spectralis OCT)examination were performed in 35 eyes of 20 NPDR patients without macular edema. Twenty eyes of 19 normal subjects underwent the mfERG and 15 eyes of 10 normal subjects underwent Spectralis OCT.

RESULTS: Compared with normal group, the response densities P1 wave in Ring1 decreased and the change of latency of P1 wave and N1 wave had no statistical significance(P<0.05). The retinal and neurosensory retinal thickness in fovea were thicker than normal.

CONCLUSION:The application of mfERG can detect the abnormal changes in retina without obvious structural changes, Spectralis OCT can measure the thickness of retinal layers, reflect the changes of retinal fine structure, and identify the abnormal changes of retinal structure. The associated examination of these two instruments offered available evidences in detecting visual function change in early DR, and offer information for therapy in time.