Retina Blood Vessels Predict Common Fatal Diseases

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."

Comments

Iridology?

[mrbill1234]

This is basically iridology - which is an "alternative" therapy. It sounds like the same doctors who were saying that iridology was "nonsense" are now putting a new twist on it, calling it 'new science', and calling it their own - and respectable!

oriental medicine

[Kell_pt]

My regular doctor for the last 8 years or so has training in analysing the retina (oriental practices, she also does acupunture). Besides (and before) the usual medicine, she always performs a visual exam that lasts from 5 to 10 minutes, comparing the retina on both eyes to a couple eye-charts. She usually detects signs of problems that way, and then proceeds to treating them with a combination of either standard or homeopatic pharmaceuticals.

This article seems to support the idea that there is scientific a basis for that oriental venue of medicine afterall. Thounsands of years of empiric knowledge being proven by science? :)