This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Eye test could determine early heart disease
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A retinal imaging test may help to predict a patient’s risk of cardiovascular disease, Australian researchers suggest.
Tien Y. Wong. PhD, FRCSE, FRANZCO, and colleagues at the Retinal Vascular Imaging Center in East Melbourne are developing software that can analyze retinal images for predictors of cardiovascular disease including stroke, hypertension and heart failure.
The software is based on Prof. Wong’s research, which has “categorically demonstrated that subtle damage to blood vessels in the retina can predict cardiovascular disease,” according to a press release from Research Australia.
The Web-based system would allow ophthalmologists and optometrists to upload images that can then be assessed for retinal markers of future cardiovascular disease, Prof. Wong said in the release.
“We hope the treating specialist will then be able to determine someone’s likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease by looking at the images so that appropriate intervention may take place,” he said.
The researchers used data from about 20,000 people enrolled in three clinical trials to demonstrate links between changes in retinal blood vessels and cardiovascular diseases. They showed that more severe changes in the retinal arteries predicted stroke, but “subtle degrees of narrowing of blood vessels predicted high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.”