Results of Carotid Doppler and Lipid Profiles in Patients with Ocular Ischemic Disease

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To analyze the findings of carotid Doppler and lipid profiles in patients with ischemic ocular disease and as well as the risk and correlation between cardiovascular and ischemic ocular diseases. METHODS: We analyzed the intima-media thickness (IMT) and existence of vascular stenosis using carotid Doppler and blood lipid profiles of the study patients diagnosed with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION group, n = 45), central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO group, n = 34), central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO group, n = 23), or ocular ischemic syndrome (OIS group, n = 27). The study patients who visited Chonbuk National University Hospital from January, 2010 to June, 2013 were compared with healthy control (control group, n = 107). RESULTS: The average age of the study patients was 60.0 +/- 14.1 years and 56.1 +/- 9.1 years for the controls. Ipsilateral common carotid artery-IMT was thicker in the OIS and CRAO groups than the control group (p < 0.01 and <0.01, respectively). The number of patients with carotid stenosis was highest in the OIS group (n = 17, 62.9%) followed by the CRAO group (n = 5, 21.7%), CRVO group (n = 2, 5.9%), and AION group (n = 1, 2.2%). No significant stenosis was found in the control group. Total blood cholesterol was not significantly different between the study patients and controls. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was higher in every patient group than the control group (p < 0.01, <0.01, <0.05 and <0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The ischemic ocular disease likely precedes carotid artery disease and dyslipidemia. Therefore, general examinations such as carotid Doppler, lipid profile and risk factor evaluations are needed in patients with ischemic ocular disease.