Ophthalmoscopic findings in malignant hypertension.
Malignant hypertension may present with retinopathy, choroidopathy, and optic neuropathy. Flame-shaped retinal hemorrhages, an early finding, are due to smooth muscle necrosis and bleeding along the nerve fiber layer. Cotton-wool spots, or cytoid bodies, are not exudates, but rather are retinal infarcts. Hypertensive optic neuropathy is a late finding. Optical coherence tomography is a relatively new imaging technique for evaluating retinal thickness and the location of pathology in patients with malignant hypertension.
Hammond
Stephen
S
Hypertension and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912, USA.
Wells
Jill Razor
JR
Marcus
Dennis M
DM
Prisant
L Michael
LM
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D006974:Hypertension, Malignant / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009887:Ophthalmoscopy; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence