LONDON: Poets have long seen the eyes as windows on to the soul, but scientists have found they offer a life-saving glimpse of human health. New research has shown that, by photographing the tiny blood vessels at the back of the eye, experts can predict whether a patient is at risk from a stroke.

A three-year study followed the health of more than 10,000 men and women in four American cities and found that, of 110 participants who had suffered strokes, nearly all had damaged blood vessels in their eyes. The damage included narrowing or ballooning of vessel walls, blood leakage and ‘mini-strokes’ in surrounding tissues.

Dr Tien Yin Wong of the University of Wisconsin, who led the study, said that the results showed problems with the blood vessels in the eyes were an indication of damage to veins and arteries in the brain, which cause strokes when blocked or burst.

The eyes and brain share the same blood supply routes from the rest of the body. “The changes in the eyes are essentially ”markers” of blood vessel damage elsewhere, resulting from things like longstanding hypertension, cigarette smoking and other insults to the body,’ said Wong.

The only previously reliable way to examine the state of the blood vessels in the brain would have involved surgery. “Retinal photography opens a new, non-invasive approach to investigate vascular diseases,” he added.

Strokes are one of Britain’s biggest medical problems, the third largest cause of death and the single main cause of severe disability. About a third of major strokes are fatal, with another third leading to permanent disability. They hit about 100,000 people in Britain every year for the first time. About 10,000 affect people under retirement age. The most famous recent younger victim was Hollywood star Sharon Stone, who had a brain operation last week after an artery burst threatening to create a stroke.

Campaigners for victims of strokes believe the research can help vulnerable people to change their lifestyles. Routine eye check-ups by opticians could give warning of an impending stroke.

“A lot of people go regularly to opticians - certainly more regularly than they have their blood pressure checked. It may be that this discovery could one day take advantage of that,” said Eoin Redehan, for the UK’s Stroke Association. —Dawn/The Observer News Service.