What is venous tortuosity in eyes?

What is venous tortuosity in eyes?

1. Congenital venous tortuosity is an aberrant retinal vessel that is usually located at the posterior pole region. Most of these cases are unilateral and stable with excellent visual prognosis and are detected on routine examination.

What is retinal tortuosity?

Retinal vascular tortuosity is characterized by an abnormal curvature of the vessels, evincing a non-smooth appearance, presenting turns and twists throughout their course. Some representative examples of fundus images with non-tortuous and tortuous blood vessels are shown in Fig.

What causes retinal vessel tortuosity?

One such cause is retinal arteriovenous malformations (Wyburn-Mason syndrome), a rare retinal anomaly in which abnormal blood flow occurs between retinal arterioles and venules, bypassing the capillary bed. This condition is usually congenital and typically presents as a unilateral, dilated and tortuous vascular loop.

What are tortuous veins?

High pressure in veins (venous hypertension) caused by malfunctioning valves, gradually enlarges these thin-walled vessels. As they dilate, they elongate and become tortuous. Located close to the skin, varicose veins are visibly noted as bulges or lumps on the legs.

What are the symptoms of retinal vein tortuosity?

It has been reported that retinal vein tortuosity is predictive of patients with endocrinopathies. Retinal arteries often appear straight and narrow but this may not be seen in all cases. Visual acuity ranges from 20/50 to NLP but usually 20/200 or better. Many patients have nystagmus and strabismus.

What is the relationship between blood pressure and retinal tortuosity?

Conclusions: Retinal arteriolar tortuosity was associated with older age and higher levels of blood pressure and BMI, whereas venular tortuosity was also associated with lower HDL level.

What causes venous congestion in the retina?

Venous congestion can result from the occlu- sion of the central retinal vein or a branch retinal vein. The resulting elevated intravas- cular pressure results in tortuosity and dila- tion in the blocked vein.

What causes the dilation of the retinal blood vessels?

The dilation is caused by radial stretching of the blood vessel and the serpentine path occurs because of longitudinal stretching. The tortu- osity may be focal, occurring only in a small region of retinal blood vessels, or it may involve the entire retinal vascular tree. Fig. 1 shows images with tortuous and non-tortu- ous blood vessels.