[Changes in the organ of vision in pathological tortuosity and atherosclerotic stenosis of the carotid arteries].

Pathological tortuosity of the carotid arteries is a cause of not only cerebral circulatory disorders, but also visual impairments. There are nonspecific and specific signs of circulatory disorders in the anterior ocular segment - bulbar conjunctiva. In pathological tortuosity of the carotid arteries visual impairments are divided into transient, acute, and chronic. Transient impairments include amaurosis fugax, ocular and orbital pains; acute impairments involve ischemic uveitis, acute retinal ischemia, acute ischemic oculopathy, anterior and posterior ischemic optic neuropathy; chronic visual impairments comprise ischemic uveal, chorioidal, retinal, and ocular neuropathy. Noninvasive ultrasound techniques involving carotid duplex scanning and color Doppler mapping of ocular and orbital vessels are the most objective studies of patients with visual impairments in pathological tortuosity of the carotid arteries.