[Retinal vascular signs: a window to the heart?]

Abstract

There is increasing recognition that coronary microvascular dysfunction also plays an important role in coronary heart disease. Little is known about this aspect of coronary heart disease due to difficulties in studying the coronary microcirculation directly. The retina is a unique site where the microcirculation can be imaged directly, providing an opportunity to study in vivo the structure and pathology of the human circulation and the possibility of detecting changes in microvasculature relating to the development of cardiovascular disease. This review covers the recent progress in research linking retinal vascular signs to coronary heart disease, and finds accumulating evidence that retinal vascular signs may provide a window into the health of the coronary microvasculature. The most widely studied signs, arteriolar narrowing, and more recently, venular dilation, are likely associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease in women, independent of traditional risk factors. Attempts to improve coronary heart disease risk prediction by incorporating retinal vessel calibre size into risk prediction scores complementing traditional algorithms such as the Framingham risk scores have so far been disappointing. Research is ongoing into the predictive utility of other retinal vascular signs. Retinal photography provides long-lasting records that enable monitoring of longitudinal changes in these retinal signs and vascular health. Full English text available fromwww.revespcardiol.org.