Abstract: Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic nephropathy are two common chronic microvascular complications in diabetic patients. It is reported that diabetic retinopathy and diabetic nephropathy are correlated and can be predicted and influenced each other. Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic nephropathy are hardly to be recognized at the early stage. With the gradual progress of the diseases, the former is present with macular edema, exudation, vitreous hemorrhage, retinal detachment and even blindness, and the latter eventually progresses to end-stage renal disease. Hemodialysis is currently the most useful treatment for blood purification to improve end-stage renal disease. Hemodialysis can improve diabetic visual impairment and nephropathy by eliminating toxins and excess body fluid in end-stage renal disease patients. However, the ability to eliminate reactive oxygen species (ROS) by hemodialysis reduces with the elongation of dialysis age, leading to the aggravation of visual impairment in diabetic retinopathy patients. Therefore, how to accurately assess the extent of the retinopathy and reverse the progression of the retinopathy are essential to prevent visual loss and blindness and to improve the quality of life in hemodialysis patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Key words: Hemodialysis, Diabetic retinopathy, Diabetic nephropathy, Oxidative stress, Inflammation