The effect of angiography with disodium fluorescein on the hemorheologic parameters of diabetics.

Chorioretinal angiography with fluorescein is an auxiliary method widely used in Ophthalmology which enables us to study the blood/humour and blood/retina/choroid interface. The presence of a strange compound in circulation may interfere with blood flow homeostasis. With the aim of studying fluorescein influence in blood rheology, blood samples were drawn before, immediately after and 30 minutes after fluorescein bolus injection; from 10 patients with diabetes mellitus, with or without retinopathy, blood fluidity (hematocrit, erythrocyte aggregation and whole blood viscosity) and erythrocyte membrane functional properties were determined. After fluorescein injection there was erythrocyte hyperaggregation (37.7%, p = 0.004), was detected, hemoglobin concentration (p = 0.039) and hematocrit (p = 0.013) decrease, and a double time increase of methemoglobin concentration (p < 0.001) the erythrocyte membrane hydrophobic region became more rigid (p = 0.016). All these abnormalities normalized after 30 minutes. In conclusion, fluorescein angiography interferes acutely with the hemorheological parameters of patients with diabetes mellitus, with erythrocyte hyperaggregation which could interfere with the microcirculation of these patients.