Retinal Vessel Analysis (RVA) in the Context of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage - A Proof of Concept Study

Walid Albanna, Catharina Conzen, Miriam Weiss, Hans Clusmann, Matthias Fuest, Marguerite Mueller, Marc Alexander Brockmann, Walthard Vilser, Arno Schmidt-Trucksäss, Anke Hoellig, Marcel Seiz, Claudius Thomé (+3 others)
2016 PLoS ONE  
Timely detection of impending delayed cerebral ischemia after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is essential to improve outcome, but poses a diagnostic challenge. Retinal vessels as an embryological part of the intracranial vasculature are easily accessible for analysis and may hold the key to a new and non-invasive monitoring technique. This investigation aims to determine the feasibility of standardized retinal vessel analysis (RVA) in the context of SAH. Methods In a prospective pilot study, we
more » ... erformed RVA in six patients awake and cooperative with SAH in the acute phase (day 2-14) and eight patients at the time of follow-up (mean 4.6 ±1.7months after SAH), and included 33 age-matched healthy controls. Data was acquired using a manoeuvrable Dynamic Vessel Analyzer (Imedos Systems UG, Jena) for examination of retinal vessel dimension and neurovascular coupling. Results Image quality was satisfactory in the majority of cases (93.3%). In the acute phase after SAH, retinal arteries were significantly dilated when compared to the control group (124.2 ±4.3MU vs 110.9±11.4MU, p<0.01), a difference that persisted to a lesser extent in the later stage of the disease (122.7±17.2MU, p<0.05). Testing for neurovascular coupling showed a PLOS ONE |
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158781 pmid:27388619 pmcid:PMC4936715 fatcat:c2slobojwjcwtdzu23q65z4gjm