CAROTID-ARTERY DOPPLER ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN RETINAL MACROANEURYSMS

It is postulated that retinal arterial macroaneurysms (RAMs) occur at the site of incomplete embolic occlusion of a branch retinal artery. E mbolic events of the retinal vessels are related to the state of the c arotid artery tree and therefore Doppler ultrasonography of the caroti d arteries in these patients is of particular interest. We have examin ed 13 patients with retinal artery macroaneurysms with carotid artery Doppler ultrasonography (CADU). Eight of these patients (61.5%) exhibi ted atheromatous plaques on the same side as the RAM with a moderate d egree of arterial narrowing. Although our group of patients did not sh ow advanced carotid artery disease, alterations of the arterial wall f ound at the level of the carotid artery were higher than expected in a similar hypertensive population. To our knowledge this is the first s tudy of the carotid arterial tree in these patients. Our results suppo rt the theory that RAMs may be of embolic origin. Furthermore they dem onstrate that CADU is a useful investigation in patients with RAMs.