Retina Blood Vessels may help predict risk of heart attack or stroke

September 29, 2009 - 12:45 am | 31 views

Technology.am (Sept. 29, 2009) — Researchers at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) believe that the eyes may offer vital clues to your risk of heart disease and stroke. They are seeking to confirm that blood vessels in the retina reflect changes in blood vessels in other parts of the body, especially the brain, kidneys and heart.

CERA_logo The lead CERA researcher, Professor Tien Wong, said they aim to show that combining this non-invasive retinal scan with the results from current risk assessment methods will improve precision and reliability in predicting cardiovascular disease.

Professor Wong’s team has taken thousands of eye images and created a program that recognises common features of conditions that cause damage to be seen on the retina.

Once a person has symptoms of cardiovascular disease, damage has already been done to the body. So finding and treating high risk people early, even before they have symptoms, could minimise blood vessel damage and potentially avoid heart attack or stroke.

Currently, doctors estimate a person’s statistical chance of developing cardiovascular disease by looking at individual factors such as whether they smoke, their family history, weight, blood cholesterol and blood pressure.

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