[Vascular and rhegmatogenous peripheral retinal changes in essential systemic arterial hypertension]

The authors examined the peripheral retina of 106 patients affected by essential hypertension grading from 1st to 3rd, as classified by WHO. Research of peripheral retinal vascular alterations and of theoretically possible resulting degenerative changes (lattice degeneration, while without pressure and snail tract degeneration) was carried out. The study included a control group of 39 healthy subjects. A statistical analysis of the resulting data was performed. This showed that the frequency of retinal peripheral vasculopathy is higher in the hypertensive group and is significantly related to the severity of hypertensive retinal angiopathy. In the same way, the incidence of peripheral retinal degenerative changes proved to be significantly higher among the hypertensive group than in the control group. However, a correlation between the frequency of retinal degenerative processes and the presence of vascular changes could not be assessed. The results obtained are discussed, suggesting that peripheral retinal angiopathy could act as a risk factor leading to degenerative alterations on a formerly predisposed retinal tissue.