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Background: Laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) enables noninvasive quantification of the retinal circulation in glaucoma patients. In this study, we tested the intrasession reproducibility of LSFG-NAVI, a modified LSFG technique. Methods: Sixty-five eyes from 33 subjects (male (M):female (F) = 17:16) with a mean age of 49.4 (plus or minus) 11.2 years were examined in this study. Two parameters indicating reproducibility - the coefficient of variation (COV) and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) - were analyzed three times on the same day that mean blur rate (MBR) was measured using LSFG-NAVI. The sites analyzed were the retinal artery and vein, the optic disk, and the choroid. Following classification according to the Glaucoma Hemifield Test (GHT; SITA-Standard 30-2 program), the COV and ICC were examined in patients with (GHT+; 38 eyes, M:F = 20:18, average age 48.9 (plus or minus) 12.8 years) and without (GHT-; 27 eyes, M:F = 13:14, average age 50.1 (plus or minus) 8.7 years) abnormal glaucomatous visual fields. Results: For all subjects, the intrasession reproducibility of MBR in the optic disk (COV: 3.4 (plus or minus) 2.0; ICC: 0.95) and choroid (COV: 4.7 (plus or minus) 3.4; ICC: 0.98) was excellent. The reproducibility for the retinal vein (COV: 8.4 (plus or minus) 5.6, ICC: 0.90) and retinal artery (COV: 10.9 (plus or minus) 9.9, ICC: 0.9) was moderate. MBRs in the optic disk had good reproducibility in both the GHT+ group (COV: 3.8 (plus or minus) 2.0; ICC: 0.97) and the GHT- group (COV: 2.9 (plus or minus) 2.1; ICC: 0.95). Local assessment of the optic disk in normal or glaucoma patients showed that the COVs of the quadrant optic disk areas were best in the temporal area of MBR (3.4%, 4.2%, respectively). Conclusion: LSFG-NAVI showed favorable reproducibility in evaluation of retinal circulation of glaucoma patients, particularly in the optic disk and choroid. (copyright) 2011 Aizawa et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd.
T. Nakazawa. Department of Ophthalmology, Tohoku University Graduate, School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, MiyagiAoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8574, Japan. Email: ntoru@oph.med.tohoku.ac.jp
6.11 Bloodflow measurements (Part of: 6 Clinical examination methods)