Ophthalmic artery blood flow parameters in pseudoexfoliation glaucoma

To investigate orbital flow parameters of ophthalmic artery (OA) in patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (XFG) by ultrasonography.

This case-control study included 38 patients with XFG and 32 healthy control subjects. Color Doppler imaging was performed to evaluate orbital flow parameters of OA. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were performed to define the best cutoff value.

In the XFG group, decreased peak systolic velocity (p = 0.114), end diastolic velocity (p = 0.002), and increased resistivity index (RI) (p<0.001) at OA compared to healthy controls were observed. A cutoff value 0.72 for OA RI was found to have a sensitivity of 66% and specificity of 94%.

The results support the findings of increased vascular resistance in OA XFG. High sensitivity and specificity obtained for OA RI may be useful in evaluation of future therapeutic vascular agents.