RETINAL VESSEL CALIBER CHANGES IN VASCULITIS. Issue 4 (April 2015) - Liew, Gerald
Abstract : Background: Retinal vasculitis is a potentially sight-threatening inflammation of the retinal vessels, but little is known about the in vivo vascular changes, which occur in affected eyes. The authors therefore sought to measure vessel caliber in eyes with vasculitis. Methods: Retrospective case–control study. Vasculitis was confirmed using fluorescein angiography. Vessel calibers were measured using validated semiautomated software. Results: There were 21 eyes from 15 patients with vasculitis and 33 control eyes from 21 control subjects. Most cases were diagnosed with idiopathic vasculitis. All had periphlebitis, and one eye also had arteritis. After adjustment for age and gender, mean arteriolar caliber was 143 μ m (95% confidence interval [CI], 134–152) in cases and 158 μ m (95% CI, 151–165) in controls ( P = 0.01). Venular caliber was similar in cases (229 μ m; 95% CI, 215–243) and controls (228 μ m; 95% CI, 217–234; P = 0.91), whereas arteriole-to-venule ratio was smaller in cases (0.63; 95% CI, 0.60–0.66) compared with controls (0.70; 95% CI, 0.02–0.11; P = 0.004). Conclusion: Retinal vasculitis was associated with narrower arteriolar caliber, whereas venular caliber was similar to controls. This resulted in a smaller arteriole-to-venule ratio in eyes with vasculitis. Abstract : Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text.The authors measured retinal vessel calibers in patients with and without retinal vasculitis. After adjustment for age and gender, mean arteriolar caliber was on average 15 μ m narrower in patients with vasculitis ( P = 0.01), whereas there was no difference in retinal venular caliber. This suggests that retinal vasculitis is associated with narrower retinal arterioles.