Active clinical trials for "Hypertensive Retinopathy"

Recently, a new and sophisticated method for assessment of retinal blood flow and retinal blood flow velocity profiles has become available. This technique is based on the combination of measurement of retinal vessel calibers with bidirectional Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FDOCT). The valid measurement of retinal blood flow is of significant importance, because it is known that major ophthalmic diseases, such as hypertensive retinopathy, are associated with alterations in blood flow. Hypertensive retinopathy is the most common manifestation of arterial hypertension in the eye. Elevated systemic blood pressure leads to generalized arteriolar narrowing caused by vasospasms and increased vascular tone. Further in the disease process, focal arteriolar narrowing, retinal haemorrhages, hard exudates and cotton wool spots can occur. Previous studies have shown that blood flow in the extraocular vessels and in the choroid is compromised in patients with arterial hypertension. However, data on the impact of arterial hypertension on retinal blood flow and retinal blood flow velocities are lacking. The present study sets out to compare total retinal blood flow and retinal velocity profiles in patients with hypertensive retinopathy and healthy age- and sex-matched controls. Ocular perfusion pressure will be calculated based on measurements of blood pressure and intraocular pressure to allow for calculation of vascular resistance. In addition, velocity profiles at arterio-venous crossings will be measured. It is hypothesized that these velocity profiles are considerably modified in patients with stage 2 and 3 hypertensive retinopathy compared to healthy controls because of pronounced arterio-venous compression.

Comparison of high-resolution optical coherence tomography (High-Res-OCT) to conventional imaging modalities for the diagnosis of eye diseases

The purpose of this study is to determine whether phase variance optical coherence tomography (PV-OCT), a software-based optical coherence tomography(OCT) image processing technology, can be used to generate angiographic images of the retinochoroidal vasculature that are comparable to those produced by fluorescein angiography (FA), the current gold standard diagnostic test.