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Br J Ophthalmol 2002;86:1216-1219 doi:10.1136/bjo.86.11.1216
  • Scientific correspondence

The first technique for non-invasive measurements of volumetric ophthalmic artery blood flow in humans

  1. F Orge1,
  2. A Harris1,
  3. L Kagemann1,
  4. K Kopecky3,
  5. C W Sheets1,
  6. E Rechtman1,
  7. M Zalish2
  1. 1Departments of Ophthalmology and Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine; Indianapolis, IN, USA
  2. 2Department of Ophthalmology, Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, affiliated with School of Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
  3. 3Department of Radiology, Indiana University School of Medicine; Indianapolis, IN USA
  1. Correspondence to: Alon Harris, Department of Ophthalmology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; alharris{at}indiana.edu
  • Accepted 29 May 2002

Abstract

Aim: To validate the first non-invasive measurements of volumetric ophthalmic artery blood flow in humans.

Methods: The ophthalmic arteries of healthy normal adults were examined by Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL, a subsidiary of Phillips Medical Systems Inc) high definition imaging (HDI) 5000 colour Doppler imaging ultrasound with a 5–12 MHZ probe. A group of 14 subjects for experiment 1 and a group of 10 subjects for experiments 2 and 3 were selected, with the examined eye chosen randomly. Peak systolic velocities (PSV) and end diastolic velocities (EDV) of the ophthalmic artery and central retinal artery were measured and recorded. Cineloops (cinegraphic videos) of the ophthalmic arteries were then recorded with the ATL HDI 5000 and values for ophthalmic artery blood flow were produced offline using experimental analysis software. Multiple regression analysis was used to compare blood flow measurements with PSV and EDV measurements in the ophthalmic artery. In two follow up experiments, intraobserver variation in obtaining cineloops and the interanalyser variability in cineloop analysis were studied.

Results: Volumetric flow correlated with ophthalmic artery PSV and EDV (p = 0.02, r2 = 0.5). There was no correlation with the cental retinal artery. The intraobserver coefficient of variation in obtaining cineloops was 29.89% for blood flow, 19.07% for diameter, and 22.27% for velocity. The coefficients of variation of the measurements of the two cineloop analysers were 40.21% for blood flow, 22.71% for diameter, and 26.34% for velocity.

Conclusion: Cineloop analysis produces ophthalmic artery flow measurements which correlate with PSV and EDV, suggesting validity. The intraobserver variation and cineloop analyser variation were found to be in the acceptable range.

Footnotes

    Responses to this article

    • Non-invasive volumetric blood flow measurement in the orbit
      • Nemeth Janos,
      • Zoltan Harkanyi and Frigyes Humml, Department of Radiology, Heim Pal Children Hospital
      Br J Ophthalmol published online September 13, 2009

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