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Retina Blood Vessels Predict Common Fatal Diseases

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the look-into-your-future dept.

An anonymous reader writes "LiveScience is reporting that Tien Wong, of the Center for Eye Research Australia at the University of Melbourne, is claiming that abnormalities in the blood vessels of the retina can be used to predict diabetes, hypertension, stroke, and heart disease. These results were the culmination of several large studies. This could go a long way towards advancing medicine in the developed world as these disorders are some of the most common causes of death, hospitalization, and disability."

2 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Opthamologists knew this already... by dudeX · · Score: 5, Informative

    When I first went to a good eye doctor in 2002, she told me that the retina can tell a lot about a person's general health. She claimed she saved several patients lives when she found cholestorol build up in the vessels of the eye.

    Nevertheless this is a good nonintrusive way to diagnose someone.

  2. this has been done for years!!! by tbird81 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Doctors have been looking at retinas for years! It's well known they're a (relatively) easy way to get a look at small blood vessels.

    Microhaemorrhages (bleeds) and aneurysms (a bulging section of a vessel) may be present due to hypertension in the vessels because of diabetic changes to the retinal vessels, or systemic hypertension. Having more blood vessels than usual indicates that the existing ones are not supplying enough oxygen, as will be the case in advanced diabetes. Changes in the macular (the part of the eye that sees most detail) can be apparent if the diabetes is causing problems with vision.

    Stroke, heart disease, hypertension and atheroscelerosis are all intimately linked anyway - people at risk of one are often at risk of others. And it's difficult to characterise the changes to a specific cause. But they're still an important thing to look at.

    Another time a doctor will look at the retina, is in an emergency situation where the is a blow to the head, they'll look for papilloedema (a swelling behind the retina due to increased pressure inside the skull). This also happens with other causes of high intracranial pressure, such as tumours.