[Ophthalmodynamometry of diastolic retinal arterial collapse pressure: correlation with systemic blood pressure]

The aim of the study was to examine whether estimations of the central retinal artery collapse pressure obtained by corneal contact lens ophthalmodynamometry are correlated with measurements of the systemic blood pressure.

The clinical observational case series study included 168 eyes (from 111 patients) without retinal vascular diseases. The mean age was 65.6+/-13.6 years (mean +/- standard deviation) and the mean refractive error was 0.31+/-2.89 diopters (-13.75 to +6,50 diopters). After conventional measurement of the diastolic arterial blood pressure at the upper arm, Goldmann contact lens ophthalmodynamometry was non-invasively performed with the patient under topical corneal anesthesia. Ten measurements were taken, the mean of which were taken for statistical analysis.

The ophthalmodynamometric estimations of the retinal central artery collapse pressure obtained in arbitrary units, showed a correlation coefficient of r=0.40 (P<0.001) with systemic diastolic arterial blood pressure measurements, with or without taking the intraocular pressure into account. The correlation coefficients were slightly higher for the measurements on the left eyes (r=0:47; P<0.001) than on the right eyes (r=0.43; P<0.001).

Estimations of the central retinal artery collapse pressure in arbitrary units did not show a strong linear correlation with measurements of the systemic blood pressure. There were signs of an autoregulation mechanism of the ophthalmic artery.