Angiopathy of the retina: causes and treatment

Inside the human eye, between the vitreous membrane and the inner surface of the eyeball, is the main organ providing visual perception. This is the retina, or a ramified network of nerve fibers diverging from the base of the optic nerve. It is attached to the choroid in the region of the optic nerve disk and the dentate line, on the rest space retina is easily attached, retained by the pressure of the vitreous and thin connections pigment epithelium. If there are negative changes in the functioning of the vascular system, this is immediately reflected in the nerve fibers of the eye (retina) and manifests itself as serious vision problems up to blindness. Such lesions are called angiopathy of the retina.

Definition of disease

The disease can affect patients of different age categories, but most often appears in people older than 30 years.

Vascular lesions are pathological in nature and arise as a result of disturbances in nervous regulation.Most often the disease does not appear as an independent pathology, but as a result of the defeat of the circulatory system throughout the body.

Therefore, several types of angiopathy are distinguished depending on the underlying disease:

• Diabetic- appears in patients in the last stages of diabetes mellitus when the entire circulatory system is affected and leads to the appearance of slowed blood flow and increased thrombosis;
• Hypertensive- High blood pressure often causes the branched veins, expanding them, numerous pinpoint hemorrhages;
• Hypotonic- with a reduced tonus of blood vessels, they are filled with blood, which leads to a slowing of blood flow and increased risk of thrombus formation;
• Traumatic- develops as a result of vascular damage in the cervical spine, chest or intracranial injury;
• Youth- develops for unclear reasons and can cause hemorrhages in the retina, vitreous, and lead to the formation of connective tissue on the retina.

Causes

Angiopathy of the retina, as a rule, develops as a result of the progression of a number of systemic diseases of the bodyand can have not only a pathological nature, but also be a consequence of a way of life or anatomical features of the structure of the organism as a whole.

The most common causes of the disease include:

• Lesions in the cervical spine;
• Injuries (head, thoracic, in the neck);
• Increased arterial or intracranial pressure;
• Defeats the nerve fibers responsible for the tone of the vessels;
• Congenital pathological changes in blood vessels (telangiectasia);
• Diabetes;
• Vasculitis is an autoimmune disorder.

The progression of the disease can be affected by any of the unfavorable factors affecting circulatory system: harmful production, intoxication of the body, old age, blood diseases, harmful habits, etc.

Symptoms

Vascular lesions in angiopathy affect not only the fundus, so the signs of the development of the disease may be and symptoms, absolutely not concerning the eyes, but, nevertheless, are terrible indicators of the pathological condition:

• The image becomes clouded, I want to blink;
• Myopia begins to progress;
• In the eyes may appear "flies" and "lightning
• On examination, retinal dystrophy is noted;
• There are pains in the legs;
• There are nosebleeds;
• Sometimes blood can appear in the urine.

All these symptoms indicate a lesion of the circulatory system throughout the body, but the initial sign may be the deterioration of vision. With the progression of the disease, spot hemorrhages on the eyeball, branching of the blood vessels and an increase in small capillaries, and with hypotonic angiopathy, the patient experiences a pronounced pulsation in eyes.

Possible complications

The circulatory system, along with the nervous and musculoskeletal, is one of the most important structures for maintaining the body in a healthy state.By the blood vessels in the tissue all the substances necessary for life activity come in and toxins are also removed. In the case of the disease, it is by the blood vessels that the immune cells rush to the inflammatory focus and suppress the pathological process.

Therefore, the vessels should always be in good shape, be elastic, strong and to the extent necessary permeable.These properties (all or some) can be lost in the development of diseases, and if the symptoms are ignored, serious complications may develop:

• Hemorrhage- in the eyeball are not only small, but also large vessels, the damage of which is fraught with the penetration of blood into the retina or vitreous body;
• Retinal disinsertion- can be observed with constantly increased pressure in the vessels, in this case the retina begins to "break away" from its bed;
• Retinal dystrophy- a consequence of the disruption of the supply of retinal tissue with nutrients becomes its gradual degradation and loss of functional properties.

The progression of symptoms of angiopathy can occur only if the doctor does not contact the doctor in time. In this case, the probability of reducing visual acuity in a significant amount, the loss of its greater part or even total blindness is great.

Treatment

Diagnostic methods allow at the earliest stages to detect the appearance of a terrible symptom and prevent the development of the disease.Initially, the doctor listens to the patient's complaints and makes a visual inspection, after which he performs ophthalmoscopy - eye examination with a special device.

In addition, the following can be done:

• Ultrasonic Vessel Scanning;
• X-ray examination;
• Magnetic resonance topography.

  Conduction of ultrasound examination of the eyes

Elimination of symptoms of angiopathy begins with the treatment of the underlying disease. In each case, this can be a completely different therapeutic tactic. For its development, narrowly specialized specialists can be involved: ophthalmologist, cardiologist, rheumatologist, endocrinologist, neurologist, therapist, ophthalmologist.

Medication Therapy

Conservative methods are effective in the early stages of diagnosis of the disease and can be used with the following drugs:

• Vascular strengthening: Trental, Actovegin, Solcoseryl, Cavinton. Effects of funds from this group improves blood microcirculation;
• Vascular permeability reducing: Parmidin, Dobesilat, extract of ginkgo biloba. Simultaneously, the preparations enhance the elasticity of the vascular walls and restore microcirculation;
• Preventing thrombosis: Trombone, Dipyridamole, Ticlodipine. The drugs inhibit the binding of ADP to the platelet receptors, thereby reducing blood coagulability;

Tromboneet used in the treatment of retinal angiopathy

• • Vitamin Complexes: with the prevalent content of vitamins of group B, vitamins C, E, P;
  • Eye drops: Taufon, Quinaks, Emoxipine, etc. They help to restore metabolism in the eye tissues and have a restorative effect;
  • Hypotensive, hypoglycemic. The drugs are used to eliminate the symptoms of the underlying disease.

Tromboneet used in the treatment of retinal angiopathy

As additional funds, physiotherapeutic procedures can be prescribed: magnetic resonance therapy, acupuncture, laser irradiation.

Surgically

With advanced forms of the disease, when conservative therapy does not produce the expected effect, surgical treatment of angiopathy is possible.

In most cases, it is laser photocoagulation - moxibustion.This method ensures successful treatment in 70% of cases and, as a rule, is prescribed for diabetic retinopathy.

In a number of cases, vitrectomy is performed - an operation to remove blood from the vitreous body, scars or pathologically modified tissues.

In the most complicated conditions, hemodialysis, a procedure for compulsory blood purification, can be recommended.

Carrying out a vitrectomy

Folk remedies

Treatment of angiopathy is mainly conservative. Therefore, as an additional therapy for long-term treatment, it is possible to use drugs according to folk recipes:

• White mistletoe grind to the consistency of flour, 1 h. l. the resulting powder brew 200 ml of boiling water in a thermos bottle and leave overnight.Filtered infusion take 2 tbsp. l. morning and evening for 3-4 months. ;
• As a cleansing vessels means to use tea from currant leaves or rowan fruits, parsley juice, infusion of dill seeds;
• Increase the consumption of dairy products in the diet;
• Make a mixture of the flowers of hawthorn (50 g), herb of the mountaineer bird (30 g) and horsetail field (20 g).Pour a glass of boiling water 2 hours. l. collection, insist, strain and take 2 tbsp. l. three times a day, shortly before meals for a month;
• Make a tincture from the roots of rhodiola rosea (20 g of crushed raw materials per liter of vodka), insist 2 weeks in a dark place. After this, tincture is filtered, and the roots are poured more, l of vodka and insist for 3 weeks already. Take 5 drops three times a day an hour after eating for 2 weeks, then a 7-day break and again 2 weeks of treatment. Scheme repeat until the drug is over, then take a second tincture of 10 drops with the same scheme.

If you take only drugs on a plant basis, the effect will be scanty, since for restoration of blood vessels in the diet should be present vitamins: carotene, taurine, lutein, ascorbic acid. They can be taken in the form of medicines or taken with food.

Prevention

Prevention of the development of a dangerous disease can be done with the following preventive measures:

• Pay attention to vision hygiene: with prolonged hard work of the eyes, take breaks, perform regular exercises to strengthen the eye muscles, do not read in the transport, follow the correctness of the lighting;
• Monitor blood pressure,not allowing the excess of 140/90 mm Hg. Art. ;
• Twice a year check the level of capillary glucose;
• Avoid hypodynamia, take walks, do exercises;
• With a sedentary lifestyle, reduce the amount of calories consumed;
• When planning pregnancy, pre-treat all possible sources of chronic infection: caries, tonsillitis, bronchitis, etc. ;
• If the body has chronic diseases (diabetes mellitus, cervical osteochondrosis, hypertension), it is necessary twice a year undergo preventive treatment with drugs: ATP, Trental, Actovegil, Vinprosetin, B vitamins.

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conclusions

Retinal angiopathy is a sign of many severe systemic diseases, and its appearance should not be overlooked, since this symptom is the beginning of the destruction of all eye structures.

To treat pathology should be complex and involving not only the ophthalmologist, but also physicians of other profiles, depending on the underlying disease. As with the treatment of most diseases, the immunity level and the healthy lifestyle that is inextricably linked to it are also dominant here. Observing the regime of prevention and the norms of healthy nutrition (as well as sleep and rest), you can slow down the development of pathology and even turn it back.