Measurement of total blood flow in the normal human retina using Doppler Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography

Y. Wang, A. Lu, J. Gil-Flamer, O. Tan, J. A. Izatt, D. Huang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

108 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aim: To measure total retinal blood flow in normal human eyes using Doppler Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT). Methods: 10 normal people aged 35 to 69 years were measured for the right eye using Doppler FD-OCT. Double circular scans around the optic nerve heads were used. Four pairs of circular scans that transected all retinal branch vessels were completed in 2 s. Total retinal blood flow was obtained by summing the flows in the branch veins. Measurements from the eight scans were averaged. Veins with diameters 33 mm were taken into account. Results: Total retinal blood flow could be measured in eight of 10 subjects: mean (SD) = 45.6 (3.8) ml/min (range 40.8 to 52.9 ml/min). The coefficient of variation for repeated measurements was 10.5%. Measured vein diameters ranged from 33.3 to 155.4 mm. The averaged flow speed was 19.3 (2.9) mm/s, which did not correlate with vessel diameter. There was no significant difference between flows in the superior and inferior retinal hemispheres. Conclusions: Double circular scanning using Doppler FD- OCT is a rapid and reproducible method to measure total retinal blood flow. These flow values are within the range previously established by laser Doppler flowmetry.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)634-637
Number of pages4
JournalBritish Journal of Ophthalmology
Volume93
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2009
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ophthalmology
  • Sensory Systems
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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