TY  - THES
TI  - Retinal vessel analysis: flicker reproducibility, methodological standardisations and practical limitations
AV  - none
Y1  - 2014///
M1  - Doctoral
KW  - Cardiovascular Disease
KW  -  Autoregulation
KW  -  Blood Pressure
KW  -  Endothelial Function
A1  - Kalitzeos, A
ID  - discovery1556966
N2  - The Retinal Vessel Analyser (RVA) is a commercially available ophthalmoscopic instrument capable of acquiring vessel diameter fluctuations in real time and in high temporal resolution. Visual stimulation by means of flickering light is a unique exploration tool of neurovascular coupling in the human retina. Vessel reactivity as mediated by local vascular endothelial vasodilators and vasoconstrictors can be assessed non-invasively, in vivo. In brief, the work in this thesis ? deals with interobserver and intraobserver reproducibility of the flicker responses in healthy volunteers ? explains the superiority of individually analysed reactivity parameters over vendorgenerated output ? links in static retinal measures with dynamic ones ? highlights practical limitations in the use of the RVA that may undermine its clinical usefulness ? provides recommendations for standardising measurements in terms of vessel location and vessel segment length and ? presents three case reports of essential hypertensives in a ?-year follow-up. Strict standardisation of measurement procedures is a necessity when utilising the RVA system. Agreement between research groups on implemented protocols needs to be met, before it could be considered a clinically useful tool in detecting or predicting microvascular dysfunction.
PB  - Aston University
UR  - http://eprints.aston.ac.uk/22257/
ER  -