BACKGROUND: Using laser speckle flowgraphy to calculate retinal blood flow, we sought to measure changes in optic nerve blood flow compared to the normal fellow eye (relative blood flow) and changes in vision in patients with central retinal artery occlusions of varying duration.
METHODS: Laser speckle flowgraphy was used to measure optic nerve blood flow in eyes with central retinal artery occlusions and the normal fellow eye of patients seen at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to calculate relative blood flow. Visual acuity was assessed monocularly using Snellen Charts in a standardized fashion.
RESULTS: In healthy control patients (n=20), relative blood flow was calculated to be 1.02 (p= 0.6843), indicating no significant difference in blood flow between eyes. In patients with unilateral central retinal artery occlusions (n=7), relative blood flow was calculated to be 0.66 ± 0.13 (p < .001), indicating on average a 33 percent loss in blood flow through the optic nerve head. When comparing relative blood flow values of CRAO patients measured within one year of vision loss versus patients when measured after one year of reported vision loss, values of patients measured within one year were lower.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Laser Speckle Flowgraphy has been shown to be a useful diagnostic tool that can reliably provide quantitative information on retinal blood flow. Results suggest that blood flow through the optic nerve head does return over time, presumably as the occlusion resolves or recanalizes. Longitudinal analysis determined a higher relative blood flow in patients one-year post incident versus within one year. However no statistically significant difference in visual acuity between these groups was found, indicating that return of blood flow is not associated with a return in visual acuity. Relative blood flow may be a useful measure of retinal perfusion in other retinal vascular disorders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/43519 |
| Date | 06 December 2021 |
| Creators | Purohit, Shashvat |
| Contributors | Franzblau, Carl, Arroyo, Jorge |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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