AIM: To measure the retinal electrical activities in patients with diabetic retinopathy(DR)by applying multifocal electroretinogram(mf-ERG)and evaluate the degree of visual damage at different stages of DR

METHODS: Thirty cases(30 eyes)aged 50～70 years old, excluding other diseases, were as normal group, and 99 cases(99 eyes )diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were as experiment group. The cases received mf-ERG examination in the standard state, respectively. The results were statistically analyzed

RESULTS: For DR patients with early and background stage, the reaction density of mf-ERG P1 wave decreased as the disease worsened, significantly reduced in non-proliferating stage and decreased more significantly in the background of the stage Ⅲ. This showed that in the macula, electrical activity had weakened before the retina without visual or morphological changes, and with the development of the disease, the electrical activity decreased more obviously.

CONCLUSION: mf-ERG can evaluate the severity of DR, especially suit in the early and background period of DR.