Multiple vascular reactivity measures improves our ability to predict underlying coronary artery disease

Abstract

Purpose: Dynamic retinal vascular assessment and peripheral endothelial tonometry are non-invasive measures of microcirculatory function and may be surrogate markers of atherosclerotic vascular disease. Correlation between these two techniques and whether these novel markers improve our ability to predict coronary artery disease (CAD) is unknown. Methods: Patients with and without clinically evident CAD were prospectively recruited (n=197). CAD was defined as a coronary angiographic stenosis of >50%. Retinal arteriolar dilatation in response to flicker light (FI-RAD) was measured using the Dynamic Vessel Analyzer. FI-RAD is expressed as percentage increase over baseline diameter. Augmentatio..