Retrobulbar circulation in patients with age-related maculopathy

To investigate retrobulbar circulation in stages of age-related maculopathy (ARM) and in normal fellow eyes of patients with unilateral exudative ARM.

Color Doppler Imaging was used to measure circulatory parameters (peak-systolic velocity--PSV, end-diastolic velocity--EDV, pulsatility index--PI and resistivity index--RI) in the central retinal, posterior ciliary and ophthalmic arteries of 44 patients with age-related maculopathy (ARM) and 32 control subjects. Patients with ARM consisted of 11 with early ARM and 33 with late ARM. Twenty-one patients from the exudative ARM group were also included in a study of unilateral exudative ARM circulation.

In the study of patients with ARM divided into stages, the PI and RI in the posterior ciliary artery of patients with late ARM were significantly higher than that of the control group (P = 0.0064; P = 0.0124). In the early ARM group, circulatory parameters did not differ significantly from those of the control group. In the study of unilateral exudative ARM, the affected eye showed significantly higher RI, as compared to the control group (P = 0.0157), and the fellow eye had significantly decreased EDV as compared to the control group (P = 0.0164). There was no significant difference in circulatory parameters between the affected and normal fellow eyes of patients with unilateral exudative ARM.

PI and RI in patients with late ARM and EDV in fellow eyes of patients with unilateral exudative ARM showed significant changes in the posterior ciliary artery compared to normal controls. Altered circulation in the posterior ciliary artery may be involved in the pathogenesis of ARM.