rss
Br J Ophthalmol 1991;75:229-231 doi:10.1136/bjo.75.4.229
  • Research Article

Influence of genotype on the natural history of untreated proliferative sickle retinopathy--an angiographic study.

  1. P D Fox,
  2. S J Vessey,
  3. M L Forshaw and
  4. G R Serjeant
  1. Medical Research Council Laboratories, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.

      Abstract

      The natural history of untreated proliferative sickle retinopathy (PSR) has been observed in 35 patients (40 eyes) with homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease and in 112 patients (114 eyes) with sickle cell-haemoglobin C (SC) disease over a mean follow-up period of 4.5 years (range 0.5-14.0 years). In both genotypes progression of PSR was most frequent between ages 20 and 39 years. Spontaneous regression was more common in SS disease (p = 0.01), and more likely to proceed to complete non-perfusion. In SC disease PSR tended to be stable in patients aged 40 and over, and non-perfused PSR lesions were significantly more likely to reperfuse (p = 0.01) than in SS disease. In both genotypes regression was not influenced by size or elevation of the PSR lesion. The tendency for PSR to regress in SS disease suggests that treatment is unnecessary in SS patients aged 40 and over.

      This Article

      1. Abstract
      2. PDF

      Responses

      1. Submit a response
      2. No responses published

      Register for free content

      The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

      Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.