EVALUATION OF RETINAL BLOOD FLOW VELOCITY PROFILES USING SPECTRAL-DOMAIN DOPPLER OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IN HEALTHY SUBJECTS

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the reproducibility of retinal blood flow (RBF) velocity profiles using Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT) in healthy young volunteers.

Methods: RBF velocity profiles were measured over one cardiac cycle using Doppler OCT in six healthy volunteers. The measured vessels were chosen at the straight portion 1 to 2 disc diameters from the optic disc. Two-dimensional velocity profiles in the venules and arterioles were extracted, and the maximal (Vmax) and average (Vave) velocities were calculated automatically. The ratio of Vmax and Vave was set to characterize the flow conditions in the vessels.

Results: The ratios of Vmax to Vave were about 1.6 to 1.8 for the arterioles and venules in most cases. The ratio in the arterioles was unchanged during the cardiac cycle. In addition, this ratio has constant for one cardiac cycle at the straight portion.

Conclusions: The current study showed that Doppler OCT enables accurate and reproducible measurements of the blood velocity profiles in the entire lumen of the retinal arterioles and venules in healthy young volunteers.

Keywords: 436 blood supply • 464 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment • 552 imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound)