Non-Occlusive Retinal Vascular Inflammation and Role of Red Blood Cell Deformability in Birdshot Chorioretinopathy.
Purpose: To investigate differences in red blood cell (RBC) deformability between birdshot chorioretinopathy (BCR) subjects and matched controls, and to postulate its relationship with lack of vascular occlusion in BCR. Methods: In a single center, prospective, non-randomized mechanistic study, blood samples were collected from eight healthy controls and nine BCR patients, and subjected to biochemical and hematological tests, as well as RBC indices assessment using dual-beam optical tweezers. Results: The mean age of the controls was 52.37 ± 10.70 years and BCR patients was 53.44 ± 12.39 years. Initial cell size (Io) for the controls was 8.48 ± 0.25 μm and 8.87 ± 0.31 μm for BCR RBCs (p = 0.014). The deformability index (DI) for the controls was 0.066 ± 0.02 and that for BCR RBCs was 0.063 ± 0.03 (p = 0.441). Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference in DI between RBCs from BCR and healthy controls. This may explain the rare occurrence of retinal vascular occlusion despite the underlying vasculitic pathophysiology of BCR.
['Agrawal|Rupesh|R|', 'Ang|Bryan|B|', 'Balne|Praveen Kumar|PK|', 'Richards|Christopher|C|', 'Smart|Thomas|T|', 'Cardoso|João|J|', 'Shima|David|D|', 'Jones|Philip H|PH|', 'Pavesio|Carlos|C|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000080365:Birdshot Chorioretinopathy D004907:Erythrocyte Deformability D004912:Erythrocytes D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D052898:Optical Tweezers D011446:Prospective Studies D015356:Retinal Artery Occlusion D031300:Retinal Vasculitis D012170:Retinal Vein Occlusion
Birdshot chorioretinopathy red blood cell (RBC) vascular occlusion dual-beam optical tweezers RBC deformability