Abstract

HERRERA GONZALEZ, Elsi M  and  RAMIREZ VARGAS, Rubén D. Valor diágnóstico de la colonoscopia en pacientes con retinopatía hipertensiva. Gen [online]. 2009, vol.63, n.1, pp.34-46. ISSN 0016-3503.

Problem: Hypertension is a chronic condition. The involvement of target organs, vascular beds, opens the likelihood of the colon as part of the digestive system, to present mucosal changes, not yet documented. Objectives: Determine colonic mucosa alterations in patients with hypertensive retinopathy. Methods: Colonoscopy and funduscopic examination (hypertensive retinopathy) was performed in 61 patients who attended the Gastroenterology outpatient service, at Hospital "Dr. Domingo Luciani", from July to December 2003. Results: 41 patients with hypertension and 20 non-hypertensive patients. Mean age 55 years. In the non-hypertensive group 07 patients had hypertensive retinopathy with (35%) and in the hypertensive group 29 (70.7%) had hypertensive retinopathy. As reference 3 vascular changes patterns in the colon lining: 1) vascular pattern altered 2) Presence of angioectasias 3) altered vascular pattern with angioectasias. Of 61 patients, 24 had angioectasias in the colonic mucosa, 21 of them (87.5%) had hypertensive retinopathy showing that the existence of angioectasias in the lining of the colon was the only diagnostic value pattern and positive correlation with Phi of 0.46 for hypertensive retinopathy. Conclusions: Colonic mucosal angioectasias have a positive predictive value for hypertensive retinopathy in patients with hypertension.

Keywords : vascular pattern; vascular ectasias; hypertensive retinopathy.