Bidirectional LDV system for absolute measurement of blood speed in retinal vessels

A laser Doppler technique which provides a means of obtaining absolute measurements of the speed of red blood cells (RBCs) flowing in individual retinal vessels is described. Doppler-shift frequency spectra of laser light scattered from the RBCs are obtained for two directions of the scattered light. Each spectrum exhibits a cutoff frequency that is directly related to the maximum RBC speed (V(max)). The difference in cutoff frequencies is used to obtain an absolute measure of V(max) that is independent of the exact orientation of the vessel and of the relative direction of the incident and scattered beams with respect to the flow direction. Preliminary measurements obtained using a prototype instrument are presented.