Retinal Abnormalities Associated With Anemia

Quantitative evaluation of the retinal venous tortuosity in chronic anaemic patients affected by β-thalassaemia major

“…[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Retinal abnormalities, including venous tortuosity and engorgement, have long been observed to be associated with anaemia. 1,[14][15][16] Although there are previous studies demonstrating the occurrence of increased RVT in patients affected by several forms of chronic anaemia, 2,3,12 in none of these studies had a quantitative evaluation of this tortuosity been performed. Aisen et al 16 measured the main retinal venous length in a heterogeneous group of anaemic patients, comparing this datum to that recorded in a normal population.…”

“…In this study, the authors did not find any significant correlation between patient's age and venous length, probably because they enrolled a small sample (35 subjects) of nonhomogeneous patients (including seven cases of acute anaemia). 16 Disorders of the cellular and plasmatic composition of the blood may affect its flow characteristics, viscosity, and coagulability. In the course of anaemia, the circulating red blood cell mass decreased, with a consequent reduction in oxygen concentration and a parallel increase in carbon dioxide and other retinal metabolites.…”

“…In all subjects a bilateral 501 red-free fundus photograph was taken, centring the optic disc (Topcon IMAGEnet 1024, TOPCON Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and printed in its standard one-image format. In thalassaemic patients and control subjects, retinal venous length was evaluated employing a modification of the method suggested by Kagan et al 18 and Aisen et al 16 In each photograph, two concentric circumferences of 25 and 180 mm in diameter were marked, employing AutoCAD 2000 software (AUTODESK S.p.A., Milan, Italy); the smaller one was located within the optic disc margin and centred on the papillary vascular stem. The four main retinal veins of both eyes were chosen for the measurement.…”

“…16 However, in anaemic patients RVT has also been reported in the absence of other retinal changes. 14,15 The aims of the present study were to measure the retinal vein length in patients affected by b-thalassaemia major, and to verify whether it is related to some of the following parameters: patient's age, ferritin plasma level, and DFX daily dosage.…”

Evaluation of clinical, biochemical and hematological parameters in macrocytic anemia

“…10,14 Icterus and skin pigmentation were significantly associated with megaloblastic anemia which was similar to the finding of Unnikrishnan et al 10 The presence of fundal abnormalities as seen in our case has been reported in anemia by few authors. [15][16][17] The mean haemoglobin in present study was 5.06g/dl with standard deviation of 2.48g/dl which was similar to Unnikrishnan V et al where the mean Hb was 5.6g/dl with standard deviation of 2.12g/dl. 85% of the patients had severe anaemia with the haemoglobin of ≤7g/dl.…”