Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 21, 2026
Retinal Vascular Reactivity as Assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
Published on: March 26, 2020
Selective Thrombophilia Screening in Young Patients with Retinal Artery Occlusion
Claudia Kuhli-Hattenbach1, Peter Hellstern, Wolfgang Miesbach
1Klinik fx00FC;r Augenheilkunde, Klinikum der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitx00E4;t Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Purpose:
To investigate the prevalence of various thrombophilic disorders among young patients with retinal artery occlusion (RAO).
Procedures:
We retrospectively reviewed thrombophilia screening data of young patients ≤60 years of age with RAO and healthy controls matched for gender and age.
Results:
Thrombophilia screening data of 25 young patients and 62 healthy controls were analyzed. Mean patient age by the time of the RAO was 43.3 ± 10.8 years. Overall, thrombophilic defects were found to be present in 17 patients (68%) compared with 11 of 62 controls (17.7%; p < 0.0001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed a statistically significant association between the development of RAO and increased levels of lipoprotein(a) (odds ratio: 9.48; p = 0.001) and factor VIII (odds ratio: 6.41; p = 0.024). There was a strong association between the presence of thrombophilic disorders and a personal or family history of thromboembolism (p = 0.01).
Conclusions:
Our results indicate that screening for thrombophilic disorders among selected young patients with RAO yields positive results in a high percentage of cases.
