Hypertension is a clinical condition that is commonly encountered in family practice. This condition is usually asymptomatic, and it is usually the family doctor’s responsibility to regularly screen his/her patients and diagnose the problem in the early stages. In addition to diagnosing the condition, the family doctor is expected to make a proper aetiological diagnosis and assess his/her patients for any kind of target organ damage and the occurrence of associated conditions. The doctor is expected to adequately help patients manage and treat any hypertension related emergencies and also educate his/her patients.
Fundoscopy is a test that allows your doctor to check the eye’s fundus and other structures with the help of a fundoscope. Fundoscopy is generally done to check for eye diseases or to help in the evaluation of retinal detachment. So is there a connection between fundoscopy and hypertension? The answer is yes, there is a relation between fundoscopy and hypertension. In patients suffering from headaches, fundoscopy helps find optic discs that are swollen or papilledema. These findings are indicative of intracranial pressure (ICP) that is raised. This raised ICP may be due to intracranial hypertension, which is benign, hydrocephalus, or some other condition. In the case of arterial hypertension, it is found that any changes in the retina that are hypertensive are very similar to those taking place in the brain. It may therefore be possible to predict any strokes or cerebrovascular accidents. The results of a fundoscopy are almost 90 to 95 percent accurate and are able to help your doctor detect many serious diseases in the early stages. To assess the usefulness between a fundoscopy and hypertension it is important to study the relation between fundoscopy and high blood pressure and retinal signs.
There is no doubt that the best way to detect hypertension is by measuring blood pressure. Although studies suggest that any kind of association between cardiovascular risk and microvascular changes in the retina are inconsistent, except in the case of stroke and retinopathy, patients having hypertension should not be discouraged from going in for a fundoscopy. In most cases, a fundoscopy is regarded as helpful in diagnosing and addressing hypertension and related conditions.
To sum up, we need to understand that even though there is a lack of evidence to suggest that going in for a routine ophthalmoscopy provides some kind of additional value to help manage patients who are hypertensive, patients should not be discouraged from opting for one.