Abstract
Purpose:
To explore the relationship between fundus abnormalities and cerebral stroke diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Methods:
A prospective cross-sectional study was designed for consecutive patients with MRI undertaken ocular fundus photography. Patients underwent MRI using a 1.5-T magnet (General Electric Co., Milwaukee, WI, USA), additionally scanned using a high resolution T2-weighted FLAIR (Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery Sequences) sequence (TR=9000ms, TE=120ms, TI=2125ms, slices=32, slice thickness=4mm, slice gap=0.8mm, matrix size=256×222) to detect any brain abnormalities. Patients diagnosed as cerebral stroke through MRI were enrolled in this study, and controlled subjects without cerebral stroke were selected from Beijing Eye Study population, age -matched with stroke patients. Relevant ocular fundus abnormalities were defined as optic disk abnormalities (optic disc edema, pallor, hemorrhages), retinal nerve fiber layer defect (RNFLD), retinal microvascular abnormalities (arteriosclerosis, vein dilatation, arteriovenous nicking), retinopathy (cotton wool spot and retinal hemorrhage). The relationship between fundus abnormalities and cerebral stroke had been explored.
Results:
Sixty patients with MRI-defined cerebral stroke and 235 age-matched subjects without cerebral stroke were enrolled. The mean age of stroke patients was (63.9+12.3) years. The stroke patients whose chief symptom was ocular syndrome in 21cases(35%). Fundus abnormalities were found in 40 cases (66.7%) of stroke patients. RNFLD was found in 17 cases (28.3%) of stroke patients. The retinal microvascular abnormalities were found in 30 cases (50%) of stroke patients. There were significantly statistical differences in fundus abnormalities between patients with MRI-defined cerebral stroke and subjects without cerebral stroke (P<0.05). The correlation between RNFLD and MRI-defined cerebral stroke was significantly, P=0.02. The correlation between retinal microvascular abnormality and MRI-defined cerebral stroke was significantly as well, P=0.01.
Conclusions:
Retinal microvascular anomalies and RNFLD are associated with MRI-defined cerebral. The ability to assess the retinal microcirculation and nerve fiber layer defect in vivo offers potential advantages over other cerebral imaging techniques.
Keywords: 693 retinal connections, networks, circuitry •
413 aging •
550 imaging/image analysis: clinical