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The assessment of ocular blood flow with laser speckle flowgraphy in healthy caucasian
Author(s) -
Wozniak P.A.,
Luft N.,
Aschinger G.,
Fondi K.,
Bata A.M.,
Witkowska K.J.,
Schmidl D.,
Werkmeister R.M.,
Bolz M.,
Garhöfer G.,
Schmetterer L.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2016.0391
Subject(s) - ophthalmology , intraclass correlation , medicine , blood flow , repeatability , mydriasis , miosis , perfusion , laser doppler velocimetry , anesthesia , mathematics , clinical psychology , statistics , psychometrics
Purpose To evaluate the reliability and feasibility of the Laser Speckle Flowgraphy (LSFG) measurement of ocular blood perfusion in a group of healthy Caucasian descents and to explicate the age‐dependence of the obtained parameters. Methods A population of 80 eyes of 80 healthy, non‐smoking subjects of Caucasian descent aged between 19 and 79 years was included in this cross‐sectional study. A commercially available LSFG system was used to measure optic nerve head (ONH) blood flow three successive times in both miosis and mydriasis. The mean blur rate (MBR), a measure of relative blood flow velocity, was obtained for three regions of the ONH. Additional pulse‐waveform derived perfusion parameters including blowout score (BOS) and falling rate (FR) were also recorded. Results The success rate of LSFG measurement was 93.8% in miosis and 98.8% in mydriasis (p = 0.004). Measurements of MBR showed excellent repeatability with intraclass correlation coefficients ≥ 0.937 and were not affected by pupil dilation. The majority of pulse‐waveform derived parameters showed good repeatability. MBR‐related blood flow indices exhibited significant age dependence (p < 0.001). FR ( r = 0.706, p < 0.001) and blowout time (BOT; r = −0.698, p < 0.001) most strongly correlated with age. Conclusions LSFG represents a fast and reliable method for the quantitative assessment of ocular blood flow in Caucasian subjects. Our data confirm that the LSFG‐derived variables FR and BOT can be useful biomarkers for age‐related changes in ocular perfusion.