Can Retinal Vascular Oxygen Saturation be a Marker for Coronary Artery Disease?

Coronary artery bypass surgery is independently associated with retinal vascular oxygen saturation and could potentially be used as markers for coronary large artery disease, according to study results published in the journal Acta Ophthalmology.

Non-invasive imaging can be used to study retinal vasculature, making it the only part of the microcirculation that can be directly studied in this way.

Retinal images at different wavelengths measuring the retinal arteriolar (raSatO2) and venular (rvSatO2) oxygen saturation were used to evaluate retinal metabolism. In 38 patients and 39 control patients, the median rSatO2 was measured 3 to 4 days after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or cataract surgery, respectively.

In patients who had CABG, there were higher raSatO2 and rvSatO2 rates compared with the control group. The authors concluded that raSatO2 was independently associated with CABG

Reference

Dinesen S, Jensen PS, Bloksgaard M, et al. Coronary artery bypass surgery independently associates with retinal vascular oxygen saturation. Acta Ophthalmol. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/aos.14444