Visual outcome in cats with hypertensive chorioretinopathy

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate factors associated with long-term visual outcome in cats with hypertensive chorioretinopathy.

Animals studied: Eighty-eight client-owned cats diagnosed with hypertensive chorioretinopathy.

Procedure: Medical records from cats with systemic hypertension and associated retinal lesions were reviewed.

Results: Most cats (61%) were blind in both eyes at presentation. Presence of menace response at last follow-up evaluation was positively correlated with presence of menace response at presentation (P = .0025), time to complete retinal reattachment (P < .0001), and gender (P = .0137). Seventy-six of 132 eyes (57.6%) that were blind at presentation regained some vision following treatment. At the time of last evaluation, 101/176 eyes (60%) had a positive menace response, while 34/46 (74%) eyes with a follow-up of >6 months had a positive menace response. Eyes that had a menace response at presentation were 17 and 37 times more likely to have a menace response at last examination compared to eyes blind for less than 2 weeks and eyes blind greater than 2 weeks, respectively. Female cats were overrepresented (62.5% of cases), and male cats were 4.2 times more likely to be visual at time of last examination compared to female cats.

Conclusions: With treatment, the prognosis for long-term vision in cats with hypertensive chorioretinopathy, even following complete retinal detachment, is good.

Keywords: cat; hypertensive chorioretinopathy; hypertensive retinopathy; retina; systemic hypertension; vision.