Peripheral retinal vasculature in normal Jamaican children

ABSTRACT

A prospective study of the peripheral retinal vasculature in a Jamaican cohort of subjects with sickle cell disease has been in progress over a period of 12 years using flourescein angiograpphy. Various vascular patterns were identified but their significance was unclear since no comparable records were available in subjects of a similar age with normal (AA) haemoglobin genotype. Fluorescein retinal angioscopy and angiography have been performed in 76 heamoglobin AA controls participating in the cohort study. The peripheral retinal capillary bed could be seen and photographed in a limited portion of the temporal peripheral fundus in a majority of this group, and there was considerable variation in the vascular pattern which could be characterised. These observations allow deviations from normal to be identified in the retinal vasculature in subjects with sickle cell disease (AU)