Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: Retinal artery occlusion is a common vision threatening disease. Among other risk factors, coagulopathies leading to a hypercoagulable state have been associated with retinal artery occlusion. Numerous studies have shown that factor V Leiden and prothrombin 20210A cause a procoagulant state. However, their role in the pathogenesis of retinal artery occlusion is still unclear. The purpose of the present study was therefore to investigate a possible association between factor V Leiden, prothrombin 20210A and retinal artery occlusion. Methods: In the present retrospective case-control study we studied 107 patients with retinal artery occlusion and 107 age and gender matched control subjects. Genotypes of factor V Leiden and prothrombin 20210A were determined by polymerase chain reaction. Results: The prevalences of the heterozygous genotype for prothrombin 20210A did not significantly differ between patients and controls (3 patients vs. 2 controls). No significant difference in the distribution of factor V Leiden genotypes could be observed among patients and controls (heterozygous genotype: 8 patients vs. 10 controls). As for other risk factors, arterial hypertension and a history of stroke were significantly more frequent in patients than in controls (arterial hypertension: 68 patients vs.47 controls, p=0.006; stroke: 18 patients vs. 4 controls, p=0.001). Conclusion: We therefore conclude that factor V Leiden and prothrombin 20210A do not play a major role in patients with retinal artery occlusion.
Keywords: 615 vascular occlusion/vascular occlusive disease • 420 genetics • 480 mutations