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Abstract #55424 Published in IGR 15-4
Higher optic nerve sheath diameters are associated with lower ocular blood flow velocities in glaucoma patients
Willekens K; Abegão Pinto L; Vandewalle E; Marques-Neves C; Stalmans IGraefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 2014; 252: 477-483
PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) and retrobulbar blood flow velocities, as measured by color Doppler imaging (CDI) in glaucoma patients. METHODS: We performed a prospective, randomized, observer-masked study involving a total of 197 subjects. Once enrolled, they were divided by three groups: healthy controls (n = 51), normal-tension glaucoma patients (NTG, n = 58), and primary, open-angle glaucoma patients (POAG, n = 88). All subjects underwent a general ophthalmological examination, an ultrasound-based assessment of the ONSD, and a hemodynamic study of the retrobulbar vascularization using CDI. Non-parametric tests, chi-square contingency tables, and the Deming correlations were used to explore differences and correlations between variables in the diagnostic groups. RESULTS: ONSD was not different between experimental groups (p = 0.28). ONSD correlated positively with the pulsatility index of the ophthalmic artery in healthy individuals (p = 0.007), but not in glaucoma patients (NTG: p = 0.41; POAG: p = 0.22). In NTG patients, higher ONSD values were associated with lower end-diastolic and mean flow velocities in the short ciliary arteries (p = 0.005 in both correlations). No such correlation was found in healthy nor POAG groups (p range between 0.15 to 0.96). ONSD was not associated with any CDI-related variable of the central retinal artery in any cohort. Venous outflow velocities were not associated with ONSD in any of the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: ONSD is negatively correlated with retrobulbar blood flow velocities in glaucoma patients, but not in healthy controls.
Full article
Classification:
6.11 Bloodflow measurements (Part of: 6 Clinical examination methods)
2.15 Optic nerve (Part of: 2 Anatomical structures in glaucoma)
