[Hemorheological disorders in patients with diabetic retinopathies]

Disorders of blood rheology resultant from hyperglycemia play the key role in the development of diabetic involvement of the eye. Electrical stability of red cell membranes, blood viscosity, and electrophoretic mobility of erythrocytes were studied in 72 patients with various forms of diabetes mellitus. Correlations of these parameters with the severity of retinal involvement and the form of the underlying disease were detected. Blood rheology characteristics were notably shifted in the group of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy, in comparison with those in controls. Disorders of the erythrocyte membrane were found in the cohort of patients examined.