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Title: | Microvascular Changes during Viral Infections: A Systematic Review of Studies Using Retinal Vessel Diameter Assessments | Authors: | Salon, Adam DE BOEVER, Patrick Goswami, Nandu |
Issue Date: | 2024 | Publisher: | MDPI | Source: | Biomedicines, 12 (7) (Art N° 1488) | Abstract: | Viral infection frequently affects the cardiovascular system, and vascular disturbances in patients can lead to health complications. One essential component of the cardiovascular system that is vulnerable to the inflammatory effects of viral infections is the microcirculatory system. As a suitable and practical non-invasive method to assess the structure and function of the retinal microcirculation, a proxy for the microcirculatory system, retinal fundus imaging can be used. We examined the impact of viral infections on retinal vessel diameters and performed a systematic analysis of the literature. Our search was carried out on PubMed using predefined search queries. After a methodological filtering process, we were able to reduce the corpus of 363 publications to 16 studies that met the search parameters. We used a narrative review style to summarise the observations. Six studies covered COVID-19, seven described HIV, and three were included in the subgroup called others, covering viruses, such as Dengue Fever and Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever. Analysis of the literature showed that viral infections are associated with alterations in the retinal vessels' vasoactivity. COVID-19 and other infections cause inflammation-associated the vasodilatation of microvasculature as a short-term effect of the infection. Long COVID-19 as well as HIV are the cause of chronic inflammation impacting microvascular morphology via retinal vessel diameter narrowing. The review emphasises the importance of the understudied area of viral infections' effects on retinal microcirculation. Continuous research in this area is needed to further verify retinal fundus imaging as an innovative tool for the optimal diagnosis of microvascular changes. As changes in the microvasculature precede changes in bigger arteries, the early detection of microvascular changes can go a long way in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular diseases. | Notes: | Salon, A; Goswami, N (corresponding author), Med Univ Graz, Otto Loewi Res Ctr Vasc Biol Immunol & Inflammat, Div Physiol & Pathophysiol, A-8010 Graz, Austria.; Salon, A (corresponding author), Augusta Univ, Vasc Biol Ctr, Augusta, GA 30912 USA.; Salon, A (corresponding author), Inland Norway Univ Appl Sci, Fac Hlth & Social Sci, N-2624 Lillehammer, Norway.; Goswami, N (corresponding author), Mohammed Bin Rashid Univ Med & Hlth Sci, Coll Med, Ctr Space & Aviat Hlth, POB 505055, Dubai, U Arab Emirates.; Goswami, N (corresponding author), Alma Mater Europaea, Integrat Hlth Dept, Maribor 2000, Slovenia. asalon@augusta.edu; patrick.deboever@uza.be; nandu.goswami@medunigraz.at |
Keywords: | microcirculation;fundus imaging;SARS-CoV-2;HIV;retinal blood vessels | Document URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1942/43567 | ISSN: | 2227-9059 | e-ISSN: | 2227-9059 | DOI: | 10.3390/biomedicines12071488 | ISI #: | 001276511000001 | Rights: | 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). | Category: | A1 | Type: | Journal Contribution |
Appears in Collections: | Research publications |
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