Quantification of topological changes in retinal vascular architecture in essential and malignant hypertension.

Objective: Grading of hypertension severity by fundoscopic appearance is difficult and inaccurate. We investigated whether essential hypertension (EHT) and malignant phase hypertension (MHT) were associated with quantifiable abnormalities of the topology and architecture of the retinal circulation.

Methods: The topology and architecture of the retinal microvasculature were compared in images from 20 normotensive subjects, 20 patients with EHT and 20 patients with MHT.