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[Vascular changes in the ocular fundus in patients with coronary artery disease]
Insights
Ophthalmoscopy, or examining the eye's blood vessels, can help detect atherosclerosis. This method, along with electrocardiograms and risk factors, aids in assessing coronary artery disease severity.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Ophthalmology
- Diagnostic Imaging
Background:
- Atherosclerosis affects both coronary arteries and retinal blood vessels.
- Early detection of coronary artery disease is crucial for patient outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the extent of atherosclerotic changes in coronary arteries and retinal blood vessels.
- To evaluate the utility of ophthalmoscopy as a non-invasive method for assessing atherosclerosis.
Main Methods:
- Coronary arteriography was performed on 52 patients.
- Ophthalmoscopy was used to examine the blood vessels of the fundus of the eye.
- Electrocardiogram (ECG) changes and risk factors were also assessed.
Main Results:
- Atherosclerotic changes were found in 38 patients via coronary arteriography.
- Of these, 68.4% showed concurrent atherosclerotic changes in the fundus of the eye.
- ECG changes indicating compromised coronary circulation were present in 81.5% of patients with coronary atherosclerosis.
Conclusions:
- Ophthalmoscopy, alongside ECG and risk factor assessment, can reliably verify the degree of atherosclerosis.
- This approach is particularly useful for assessing ischaemic heart disease within the broader atherosclerotic process.
Abstract:
Confrontation of coronary arteriography, i.e. the exact invasive diagnostic method and the direct method of gaining an insight into the blood vessels of the fundus of the eye by the "in vivo" method was aimed at elucidating the fact to which extent the atherosclerotic changes in these two vessel systems were confronted. Changes in the blood vessels of the fundus, ECG changes and some of the risk factors were investigated in 52 patients who had undergone coronary arteriography. Changes in the sense of stenosing atherosclerosis of changed arteries were found in 38 patients and in 26 (68.4%) of them atherosclerotic changes in the fundus of the eye were also observed, while in 31 (81.5%) cases ECG changes were registered pointing to compromised coronary circulation. In 14 cases coronary arteriography showed the absence of atherosclerotic changes, while the positive finding obtained by ophthalmoscopy was confirmed only in one of them (7.1%). According to the results obtained, it was pointed out that the study of the fundus of the eye in addition to electrocardiogram and the existence of risk factors may serve as a reliable method in practice for the verification of atherosclerotic degree in general and ischaemic heart disease in particular in the framework of the atherosclerotic process.