title: Ophthalmoscopic findings in malignant hypertension.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Hypertension and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.forename: Jill Razor
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: Dennis M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Marcus
authors.forename: L Michael
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Prisant
mesh_terms: 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