Impaired systemic vascular endothelial function in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion.

PURPOSE: To evaluate systemic endothelial function in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).

METHODS

Twenty-seven patients with BRVO (BRVO group, 8 men, 19 women; mean age, 65.4 ± 1.3), 10 patients with systemic hypertension and no other systemic or ocular disease (hypertension group, 6 men, 4 women; mean age, 70.4 ± 2.2), and 10 healthy volunteers (healthy group, 3 men, 7 women; mean age, 63.8 ± 2.1) were enrolled. We excluded patients with diabetes mellitus and current smokers. Using high-resolution ultrasonographic imaging, we evaluated the brachial artery (mm) to evaluate the flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) by measuring the diameter of the brachial artery during reperfusion after arterial occlusion.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences among the three groups in age (p = 0.98), sex (p = 0.21), or the baseline diameter of the brachial artery (p = 0.11). The group-averaged FMD value decreased significantly in the BRVO group (4.6 ± 0.4%) compared to the hypertension group (8.0 ± 0.8%, p < 0.01) and the healthy group (6.9 ± 0.6%, p < 0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis identified lower FMD as an independent risk factor for BRVO.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggested that BRVO is associated with generalized endothelial dysfunction and that impaired systemic endothelial function may be associated with BRVO.