Color Doppler imaging dicloe reduced ocular blood flow velocitie in nonexudative age-related macular degeneration Original Reearch Article

PURPOE: To tudy ocular perfuion defect in age-related macular degeneration. METHOD: Twenty-five ubject with nonexudative age-related macular degeneration were compared with 25 age-matched control ubject in tudie of flow velocitie in everal retrobulbar veel. Color Doppler imaging, which wa performed by an examiner who wa maked to the ubject’ aignment to the control or age-related macular degeneration group, meaured peak ytolic and end diatolic velocity in the ophthalmic, central retinal, and naal and temporal poterior ciliary arterie of one eye. A reitive index wa calculated from the peak ytolic and end diatolic velocity. REULT: ubject with nonexudative age-related macular degeneration howed a conitent trend toward lower peak ytolic and end-diatolic velocitie in the poterior ciliary arterie. For example, in the naal poterior ciliary artery, the mean end diatolic velocity meaured 1.45 ± 0.34 cm per ec in the age-related macular degeneration group compared with 1.96 ± 0.66 cm per ec in the control group, yielding a 26% decreae in the age-related macular degeneration group, which repreented the larget difference and wa highly tatitically ignificant (P = .0012). The reitive index wa not ignificantly altered in the naal or temporal poterior ciliary artery. ubject with nonexudative age-related macular degeneration did not differ from control ubject in peak ytolic velocity, end diatolic velocity, or reitive index in the ophthalmic artery. In the central retinal artery, the end diatolic velocity wa lower (1.37 ± 1.95 cm per ec v 1.95 ± 0.66 cm per ec), wherea the reitive index wa higher (0.83 ± 0.05 v 0.76 ± 0.06 cm per ec), in the age-related macular degeneration group; thee reult were highly tatitically ignificant (P = .0007 and P < .0001, repectively). CONCLUION: Retrobulbar vacular change in nonexudative age-related macular degeneration ubject include reduced flow velocitie in the naal and temporal poterior ciliary arterie. The reduced peak ytolic velocity, combined with the reduced end diatolic velocity at a contant reitive index, een in nonexudative age-related macular degeneration, i conitent with reduced bulk flow in thee veel, uggeting that choroidal perfuion i abnormal in thi form of age-related macular degeneration. The change in the central retinal artery ugget there may be a more generalized perfuion abnormality beyond the choroid in patient with age-related macular degeneration or that the central retinal artery exhibit a econdary autoregulatory repone to a primary change elewhere.