The present study carries out a review of the theme hypertensive retinopathy. Thus it presents a brief review of the historical data on hypertensive retinopathy. The study reports the classical alterations of hypertensive retinopathy and its classifications, as well as the most recent findings associated with systemic arterial hypertension, the likely patho-physiological mechanisms, and the several methods used for investigation, their advantages and disadvantages; a critical view of the interpretation of signs of the ocular bulb involvement by systemic arterial hypertension; furthermore, based on the diversity of methodologies used in the investigation of retinopathy, comments are made on its reverberation, in the prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy and its implications, as a target organ of systemic arterial hypertension, in an updated context of the metabolic syndrome and of other elements associated with systemic arterial hypertension, such as leptin and endothelin.
Hypertension; Retinal diseases; Blood pressure; Ophthalmoscopy
