(Press-News.org) SAN FRANCISCO – June 7, 2012 – A simple eye test may someday offer an effective way to identify patients who are at high risk for stroke, say researchers at the University of Zurich. They showed that a test called ocular pulse amplitude (OPA) can reliably detect carotid artery stenosis (CAS), a condition that clogs or blocks the arteries that feed the front part of the brain. It's a known risk factor for stroke. The OPA test could be performed by ophthalmologists – physicians who treat eye diseases – during routine exams. The study, which is published in the June issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, confirmed that patients who had the lowest OPA scores also had the most seriously blocked arteries.
Each year, approximately 795,000 Americans suffer a new or recurrent stroke, and more than 137,000 of these people die as a result. People with severe CAS are much more likely to suffer stroke. Physicians would like to catch and treat CAS before that can happen, but because CAS has no symptoms and an efficient test is not currently available, the disease often goes undetected.
The Swiss research team used a device called the dynamic contour tonometer to check the OPA of 67 patients who were assumed to have CAS. The OPA score is calculated by finding the difference between the two pressure levels that occur inside the eye during the two phases of the heartbeat − the systolic and diastolic. The tonometer measures the two pressure levels, then instantly computes the patient's OPA score. When blood flow to the eye is blocked by CAS, there is not much difference between the two pressure levels, so the OPA score is low. The study confirmed that patients with the lowest OPA scores also had the most seriously blocked arteries. The researchers used ultrasound exams to corroborate that each study participant had CAS and to detail the severity of his or her blockage.
"Our results show that ocular pulse amplitude is a reliable, safe screening test for carotid artery stenosis," said lead researcher Pascal Bruno Knecht, M.D. "We recommend further study to confirm the value of using OPA to detect and assess the severity of CAS and to define its use in stroke prevention."
A research review performed for the U.S Preventive Services Task Force indicated that if an efficient screening test for CAS were available, the incidence of stroke and fatalities due to stroke could be substantially reduced. The review stated that the test should be able to detect clinically significant CAS, defined as 60 percent to 99 percent blockage of the carotid arteries. Some high-tech tests, such as magnetic resonance angiography and color duplex ultrasound, already meet this standard, but they are expensive and not widely available. Their primary use is in diagnosing patients who already have symptoms of stroke.
It could be efficient to perform the OPA test during a standard eye exam, if the ophthalmologist is already using the dynamic contour tonometer to screen for glaucoma. This type of tonometer is not widely used in the United States, although it is in Europe.
The researchers say that other than CAS, very few diseases could cause low OPA scores, and that an ophthalmologist could easily rule out these other diseases during an eye exam.
INFORMATION:
Note to media: Contact Media Relations to request full text of the study, arrange interviews with experts, and request images.
About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons — Eye M.D.s — with more than 32,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three "O's" – ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases, infections and injuries, and perform eye surgery. For more information, visit www.aao.org . The Academy's EyeSmart® public education program works to educate the public about the importance of eye health and to empower them to preserve their healthy vision, by providing the most trusted and medically accurate information about eye diseases, conditions and injuries. Visit www.geteyesmart.org to learn more.
About Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology, the official journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, publishes original, peer-reviewed reports of research in ophthalmology, including basic science investigations and clinical studies. Topics include new diagnostic and surgical techniques, treatment methods, instrument updates, the latest drug findings, results of clinical trials, and research findings. Ophthalmology also publishes major reviews of specific topics by acknowledged authorities.
END
NEWPORT, Ore. – When debris from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan began making its way toward the West Coast of the United States, there were fears of possible radiation and chemical contamination as well as costly cleanup.
But a floating dock that unexpectedly washed ashore in Newport this week and has been traced back to the Japanese disaster has brought with it a completely different threat – invasive species.
Scientists at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center said the cement float contains about 13 pounds of organisms per square foot, ...
Do rebelliousness, emotional control, toughness and thrill-seeking still make up the essence of coolness?
Can performers James Dean and Miles Davis still be considered the models of cool?
Research led by a University of Rochester Medical Center psychologist and published by the Journal of Individual Differences has found the characteristics associated with coolness today are markedly different than those that generated the concept of cool.
"When I set out to find what people mean by coolness, I wanted to find corroboration of what I thought coolness was," said Ilan ...
7 June 2012: Element Six, the world leader in synthetic diamond supermaterials, working in partnership with academics in Harvard University, California Institute of Technology and Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, has used its Element Six single crystal synthetic diamond grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) to demonstrate the capability of quantum bit memory to exceed one second at room temperature.
This study demonstrated the ability of synthetic diamond to provide the read-out of a quantum bit which had preserved its spin polarisation for several minutes and ...
Find Me Gluten Free, the most downloaded gluten-free restaurant and business finder app for iPhone and Android announces partnership with Brandy Wendler, Mrs. Alaska International 2012 to create awareness for the Celiac Disease and Gluten Free Community.
Find Me Gluten Free rates businesses on how gluten-free friendly they are, making it easier to find a restaurant which users can be confident will take preparing a gluten-free meal seriously, along with serving as a brand-finder at stores nationwide.
Brandy Wendler was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2008. It was ...
The NationaLease Spring Maintenance Managers Meeting in Greenville, SC, in May provided attendees with a stimulating mix of technology, product, and professional education, as well as a strong measure of motivation and inspiration provided by its keynote speaker, Jay Blake, racing's only blind race crew chief.
The four-day event also included a ceremony announcing NationaLease's Exceptional Service Award winners, which are NationaLease member companies that provided particularly outstanding reciprocal road service to fellow members throughout the year. "This year's ...
University of Notre Dame network physicists Mária Ercsey-Ravasz and Zoltán Toroczkai of the Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications, in collaboration with food science experts, have recently published a rigorous analysis of the international food-trade network that shows the network's vulnerability to the fast spread of contaminants as well as the correlation between known food poisoning outbreaks and the centrality of countries on the network.
Together with food science experts József Baranyi, from the Institute of Food Research in the U.K., and ...
RICHMOND, Va. (June 7, 2012) – A new study from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine has identified molecular changes responsible for abnormal cholesterol production and metabolism in the livers of patients with a common liver condition, and these changes may explain the severity of a patient's liver disease and risks to their heart health.
It is estimated that a third of Americans have a fatty liver. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a very common liver condition. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, the more aggressive form of nonalcoholic fatty ...
Earlier in the week the US government confirmed economic growth in America had stalled during the first-quarter of the year, as gross domestic product (GDP) rose by just 1.9% from January through to May, reports currency exchange experts, Currencies Direct.
Initially the department of commerce expected GDP to be around the 2.2% mark. However, cuts in private sector jobs were said to have stained prior optimism.
According to figures published by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, US employers cut 61,887 jobs in May, the most since September 2011. ...
Prenatal screening for Down syndrome (DS) is still in need of improvement. Perinatal medicine experts have worked hard to find new biomarkers for screening of DS. Dr. Shi he Shao and his co-investigators, from Jiangsu University and Changzhou Woman and Children Health Hospital, report in the May 2012 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine that they have successfully identified twenty-nine differentially expressed proteins in maternal serum from pregnancies carrying DS fetuses with proteomic approaches. These differential proteins offer the possibility of improving the ...
Tim Hanni's New Wine Fundamentals Webinars, held for the first time in May, attracted international attendance and will be repeated June 19 and 23. The webinar offers an introduction to taste and other sensations, improved wine communications, and a new paradigm for understanding the physical and psychological factors in wine preferences and consumer behavior. One attendee wrote, "It altered the way I work...(Tim) is challenging us to align the 'rules' to the reality of our customers."
The Webinar is a two-hour "learn and train the trainer" session ...
