Proliferative retinopathy and maculopathy are two independent conditions in sickle cell disease: Is there a role of blood rheology?1.

OBJECTIVE: Our study investigated the prevalence of retinopathy and maculopathy in sickle cell patients and tested the association between these two conditions. In addition, we tested whether hematological and hemorheological parameters, as well as genotype, were involved in the development of these two conditions.

METHODS: Seventy sickle cell adult patients were recruited: 37 with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and 33 with sickle cell hemoglobin C disease (SCC). All patients underwent retinal examination and macular ocular coherence tomography. Blood was sampled for the measurements of hematological and hemorheological parameters.

RESULTS: Twenty-six patients had maculopathy and 30 had retinopathy with no significant difference between SCA and SCC patients. No association between the presence of retinopathy and maculopathy was detected. RBC aggregation was higher and RBC deformability lower at 3 Pa in SCA patients. Blood viscosity and hematocrit were higher in SCC than in SCA patients. However, no association was found between biological parameters and the sickle ocular complications studied.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that retinopathy and maculopathy are common in sickle cell disease. Nevertheless, we found no association with hematological parameters, blood rheology or genotype.