Vascular Casting and Scanning Electron Microscopy of Human Ocular Vascular Abnormalities

Abstract

Plastic casts of ocular vessels were made from postmortem specimens obtained from patients who had had hypertension and arteriosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, and retinopathy of childhood. In conjunction with scanning electron microscopy, the casts serve as models of pathologic vascular changes, including arteriovenous crossing defects, microaneurysm, localized capillary nonperfusion, and rapidly growing peripheral choroidal vessels. These preliminary findings should serve to encourage further study of ocular vascular abnormalities with the use of plastic casting techniques.