title: Narrowing of the retinal arterioles in descending optic atrophy. A quantitative clinical study.
abstract: Measurements were made on fundus photographs of the diameters of retinal arterioles in a series of cases with various nonvascular lesions of the anterior visual pathways, before and after the development of fundus signs of optic atrophy. A simple method was devised for reliable estimation of the diameter of the central retinal artery whenever this vessel could not be measured directly: this allowed comparisons to be made between different eyes, irrespective of individual variations in arteriolar branching patterns. Atrophy was consistently associated with a decrease in central retinal artery caliber, averaging 24% in eyes developing total optic atrophy, and 17% in eyes with hemi-atrophy. Normal controls showed a maximum side difference of 8%.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001160:Arterioles / Q000473:pathology; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D009896:Optic Atrophy / Q000473:pathology*; D010781:Photography; D012160:Retina / Q000098:blood supply*; D012161:Retinal Artery / Q000473:pathology