Evaluation of Retinal Arteriosclerosis using Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography Flowmeter in Healthy Subjects

Abstract

Purpose : To evaluate retinal arteriosclerosis using a developed Doppler optical coherence tomography flowmeter (DOCT flowmeter: IOVS 2016, 2017, PLOS ONE 2018) which can easily, accurately and non-invasively measure retinal blood flow (RBF) within three seconds.

Methods : 35 eyes of 35 healthy male with a mean age of 43.1 years (21 to 68) and 28 eyes of 28 healthy femalewith a mean age of 52.3 years (21 to 87) were assessed using DOCT flowmeter. The superotemporal artery in an eye was used for measuring RBF using DOCT flowmeter. The pulsatility ratio (PR), which is expressed as PSV (the peak velocity during systole)/EDV (the end diastolic velocity), is an indicator of increased vascular resistance to flow and/or decreased vascular compliance. Pearson's correlation coefficient was employed to compare age and PR. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results : Mean PRs of male and female groups were 3.9± 1.3 and 4.9 ± 1.8, respectively. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that age was strongly correlated with PR (R= 0.64, P< 0.0001 in male group and R = 0.66, P< 0.0001 in female group).

Conclusions : PR increased with age both in male and female. The present study showed that the DOCT flowmeter might be useful to predict the condition of arteriosclerosisof retinal vessels.

This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.