Roth stain

Roth spots (English Roth's spots ) are bleeding into the retina , which for a long time was considered pathognomonic for bacterial inflammation of the inner lining of the heart ( endocarditis ). In the case of these endocarditis, they are caused by inflammation of the blood vessels ( vasculitis ), which occur as part of this disease mediated by immune complexes . They are named after the Swiss pathologist Moritz Roth (1839–1914). On ophthalmoscopy , the Roth spots appear as red rounded dots with a pale center. This pale to white center consists of fibrin that has leaked through endothelial defects.

Roth spots do not only occur in bacterial endocarditis, but also in other diseases that are associated with increased capillary fragility, for example:

• other infectious endocarditis
• Leukemia (thrombocytopenia)
• hypertension
• ischemic conditions
• pre-eclampsia
• Diabetes mellitus
• AIDS (rare)
• mycotic endophthalmitis

literature

• Mark Dennis, William Talbot Bowen, Lucy Cho: Mechanisms of Clinical Signs . Elsevier Health Sciences, 2012, ISBN 978-0-7295-8075-5 , pp. 218 .