AIM: To investigate the relevance of serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF), cytokines and retinal blood flow index to patients with diabetic retinopathy(DR).

METHODS: In this study,174 cases of patients with diabetic were divided into three groups according to the retinal lesions, no DR group(NDR, 41 cases), background DR(NPDR, 68 cases)and proliferative DR group(PDR, 65 cases), and 30 healthy volunteers were included as control group. The serum levels of VEGF, TNF-α, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, bFGF of all the subjects were detected and compared, and the hemodynamic parameters of the central retinal artery were measured by doppler ultrasonography.

RESULTS:The serum levels of VEGF, TNF-α, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, bFGF of patients with diabetic were all higher than control group, and these index of PDR were higher than NDR and NPDR, while these index of NPDR were higher than NDR(P<0.05). The Vmax, Vmin, Vmean and PI of patients with diabetic were all lower than control group, RI was higher than control group; and the Vmax, Vmin, Vmean and PI of PDR were lower than NDR and NPDR, RI was higher than NDR and NPDR; while the Vmax, Vmin, Vmean and PI of NPDR were lower than NDR, RI was higher than NDR(P<0.05).

CONCLUSION:The changes of serum levels of VEGF, TNF-α, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, bFGF and hemodynamics of CRA are closely related to the occurrence and development of DR, and these indexes have a good reference significance in the diagnosis and treatment of DR.