The Clinical Validity of the Spontaneous Retinal Venous Pulsation

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Title The Clinical Validity of the Spontaneous Retinal Venous Pulsation
Creator Sui Hsien Wong, MRCP; Richard Patrick White, MD, FRCP
Affiliation Department of Neurology, The Walton Center NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Abstract The validity of the clinical dictum 'the presence of spontaneous retinal venous pulsation (SVP) excludes raised intracranial pressure' has not been previously tested. We set out to determine the specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) of the presence of SVP to indicate normal intracranial pressure (ICP) in a routine clinical setting. We prospectively recruited patients undergoing lumbar puncture (LP), and 2 clinicians were blinded to the indications for LP and cerebrospinal fluid opening pressure (OP). Interobserver reliability was assessed. There were 106 patients in our cohort with a median age of 44 years (range, 18-79 years) and median body mass index of 27.5 kg/m2 (range, 18-48 kg/m2). SVP was present in 94 of 106 patients (88.7%). Thirteen of 106 (12.3%) patients had high OP ($30 cmH2O), and SVP was present in 11 of 13 patients (86%) with high OP. The sensitivity (95% confidence interval) of the presence of SVP to exclude raised ICP was 0.89 (0.88-0.92), specificity of 0.15 (0.05-0.37), PPV of 0 8 (0.87-0.9), and negative predictive value of 0.17 (0.05-0.4). Interobserver agreement was moderate for SVP (kappa = 0.42). Although the sensitivity and PPV of the presence of SVP to exclude raised ICP is high, it is not absolute. SVP can be seen in some patients with high ICP. Relying on the presence of SVP to exclude raised ICP may give a false sense of reassurance.
Subject Adolescent; Adult; Older people; Diagnostic Tests, Routine; Female; Humans; Intracranial Pressure; Male; Middle Older people; Predictive Value of Tests; Prospective Studies; Reproducibility of Results; Retinal Vein; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spinal Puncture
OCR Text Show
Date 2013-03
Language eng
Format application/pdf
Type Text
Publication Type Journal Article
Collection Neuro-Ophthalmology Virtual Education Library: Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology Archives: https://novel.utah.edu/jno/
Publisher Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
Holding Institution Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah
Rights Management © North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society
ARK ark:/87278/s68d3294
Setname ehsl_novel_jno
ID 227372
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s68d3294
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