Peripheral Vascular Endothelial Dysfunction in Central Serous Chorioretinopathy

PURPOSE. To explore the pathophysiology of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) by comparing peripheral vascular endothelium function in patients with CSC and control subjects. METHODS. This study included 34 patients with CSC who attended the Department of Ophthalmology and 34 healthy age-and sex-matched healthy control subjects from a routine physical check-up population. Endothelium-dependent flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) and endothelium-independent nitroglycerine-mediated vasodilation (NMD) were measured using high-resolution, two-dimensional ultrasonographic imaging of the brachial artery. Blood samples were taken to test serum glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase, uric acid, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels. RESULTS. The mean age of patients with CSC was 44.0 years (SD +/- 8.1) and that of controls 46.1 years (+/- 9.9) (P = 0.352). There were no significant differences between groups in serum biochemical data, including serum glucose, alanine aminotransferase, uric acid, cholesterol, triglyceride, and hs-CRP. FMD was significantly impaired in patients with CSC compared with control subjects (CSC: 4.62 +/- 1.96, control: 7.52 +/- 2.63, P < 0.001), whereas NMD did not differ significantly between the two groups (CSC: 16.31 +/- 5.60, control: 16.22 +/- 5.56, P = 0.950). CONCLUSIONS. This study demonstrated impaired FMD in patients with CSC and the results have provided evidence of peripheral endothelium dysfunction associated with CSC in patients.