[Pathological kinking of carotid arteries as a risk factor for age-related macular degeneration]

The present work was aimed at studying clinical symptoms and the incidence rate of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) in patients diagnosed with pathological kinking of carotid arteries. A total of 63 patients presenting with pathological kinking of carotid arteries were examined. Of these, 58 were found to have age-related macular degeneration manifesting itself by degenerative alterations in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in 14 (24.14%) patients, hard retinal drusen in 22 (37.93%) patients, and by a combination of hard retinal drusen with evidence of RPE degeneration in 22 (37.93%) subjects. Besides the conventional ophthalmologic methods of examination including the determination of visual acuity under standard conditions of illumination, biomicroscopy, both direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy, perimetry, and tonometry, all patients were subjected to ultrtasonographic Doppler mapping of the ophthalmic arteries, as well as colour duplex scanning (CDS) of the brachiocephalic arteries, transcranial Doppler ultrasonography and helical computed tomography. The obtained findings revealed that 92% of the examined patients presenting with pathological kinking of the internal carotid arteries had symptoms of non-exudative forms of ARMD and signs of blood flow deficiency in the ophthalmic arteries. In this connection, it appears appropriate to carry out colour duplex scanning of the brachiocephalic arteries in order to reveal pathological kinking of the carotid arteries and decide upon further treatment policy.