Digital subtraction angiography in the diagnosis of retinal vascular disease.

Digital subtraction angiography is a safe, inexpensive method of investigating systemic vascular disease in patients for whom conventional carotid angiography is too risky. We used this technique in five patients with a variety of retinal vascular conditions--a 55-year-old woman with occlusion of the right internal carotid artery, a 63-year-old man with bilateral occlusion of the internal carotid arteries, a 72-year-old man with occlusion of the stem of the left subclavian artery and an irregularity of the proximal portion of the innominate artery, a 77-year-old man with optic nerve head neovascularization and stenosis of the left internal and external and right internal carotid arteries, and a 74-year-old man with recurrent stenosis of the left internal carotid artery. In all five cases, digital subtraction angiography was helpful in determining the diagnosis and course of treatment.