Contributed by request (3) Retinal vascular shunts These are arteriovenous communications, congenital or developmental, in which blood passes directly from artery to vein without going through the normal capillary bed. Flow in these vessels is usually rapid, but may be slow if the shunt is fed by a vessel with a reduced flow.The common denominator which binds retinal neovascularization, collaterals, and shunts is the fact that each appears ophthalmoscopically and angiographically as an abnormal vascular channel either within or adjacent to the retina.
RETINAL NEOVASCULARIZATIONThe most significant of the three entities clinically, this occurs as a result of some stimulus, the nature of which is not known, provoking pre-existing retinal vessels to proliferate abnormally. The stimulus appears to be related to situations involving poor retinal nutrition resulting in retinal hypoxia and/or the accumulation of metabolic products. Retinal
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.