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Retinopathy is a general term that refers to some form of persistent (i.e. inflammation) or acute (i.e. photon beam radiation) damage to the retina of the eye.[citation needed] Vascular remodeling occurs over periods of time where the patient may not fully realize the extent of their disease, until it is too late. Frequently, retinopathy is an ocular manifestation of systemic disease as seen in diabetes or hypertension

Causes of retinopathy are varied:
diabetes - (causing diabetic retinopathy)[citation needed]
arterial hypertension - (causing hypertensive retinopathy)[citation needed]
prematurity of the newborn - (causing retinopathy of prematurity)[citation needed]
radiation - (causing radiation retinopathy; exposure can occur via radiotherapy, accidental exposure, or nuclear accidents/incidents)[citation needed]
sickle cell disease[citation needed]
ciliopathy[1]
direct sunlight exposure - (causing solar retinopathy)
retinal vein or artery occlusion[citation needed]
pheochromocytoma [2]
Hyperviscosity-related retinopathy as seen in disorders which cause paraproteinemia
Many types of retinopathy are proliferative resulting, most often, from neovascularization or the overgrowth of blood vessels. Angiogenesis, the sprouting of new vessels is the hallmark precursor that may result in blindness or severe vision loss or impairment, particularly if the macula becomes affected.[citation needed]
Retinopathy is diagnosed by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist during ophthalmoscopy. Treatment depends on the cause of the disease.
[edit]Relation of genetic retinopathies to other rare genetic disorders
Recent findings in genetic research have suggested that a large number of genetic disorders, both genetic syndromes and genetic diseases, that were not previously identified in the medical literature as related, may be, in fact, highly related in the genotypical root cause of the widely-varying, phenotypically-observed disorders. Thus, some genetically-caused retinopathies are the result of one or more underlying ciliopathies, an emerging new class of human genetic disorders. Other known ciliopathies include primary ciliary dyskinesia, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, polycystic kidney and liver disease, nephronophthisis, Alstrom syndrome, and Meckel-Gruber syndrome.[1]
[edit]Treatment

In recent years targeting the pathway controlling vessel growth or angiogenesis has been promising. Vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF, seems to play a vital role in promoting neovascularization[citation needed]. Using this premise, researches have shown significant reduction in the extent of vessel outgrowth using antibodies to sequester this growth factor (i.e. bevacizumab (Avastin®)). Other anti-VEGF treatments are currently under review in both clinical trials and in preclinical labs.

Source:  Wikipedia