Thrombophilic and systemic risk factors in patients with retinal vein occlusion

Over the past years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of identifiable causes of thrombophilia. However, as retinal vein occlusions (RVO) have a strong pathogenic correlation with the presence of hypertension or arteriosclerosis and the average age of affected patients is usually within the sixth or seventh decade of life, thrombophilia screening of RVO patients poses a particularly difficult diagnostic challenge. It is clear that to use medical resources appropriately and improve the level of interdisciplinary patient care in RVO, subgroup analysis is required. Just recently, some studies have demonstrated the significant role of coagulation disorders in specific subgroups of RVO patients and have provided recommendations for clinical practice. These results indicate that thrombophilic risk factors are significantly more prevalent among patients equal or less than 45 years of age at the time of RVO or a previous thromboembolic event, among patients with a remarkable family history of thromboembolism prior to the age of 45 years, or among patients without cardiovascular risk factors. According to these data, thrombophilia screening should be considered in these selected subgroups.