BRITISH JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY, vol.86, no.6, pp.653-657, 2002 (SCI-Expanded)
Background/aims: Beligei's disease (BD) is a systemic inflammatory vasculitis of young adults with unknown aetiology, characterised by endothelial dysfunction and occlusion in both deep venous and retinal circulation. Ocular involvement occurs in 70% of cases and is characterised by periphlebitis, periarteritis, vascular occlusion, and thrombosis leading to blindness despite vigorous treatment. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a vasoconstricting peptide while nitric oxide (NO) is a relaxing molecule and both are released by endothelium for blood flow regulation. Homocysteinaemia is a newly defined term connected to the increased risk of atherothrombotic and atherosclerotic systemic and retinal vascular occlusive diseases, and its role in the course of BID has not been previously described. The authors aimed to detect serum total homocysteine (tHcy), ET-1, and NO in BID and to assess if tHcy, ET-1, and NO are associated with ocular BD or disease activity.