Anterior optic nerve blood flow decreases in clinical neurogenic optic atrophy

Anterior optic nerve blood flow was studied in nine patients with unilateral neurogenic optic atrophy using noninvasive techniques. Disk reflectometry measurements from temporal sites demonstrated a significant reduction in the index of blood volume in atrophic optic nerves as compared with the contralateral optic nerves (P less than 0.00001). Laser Doppler measurements from the same temporal sites detected a significant reduction in the speed of blood (P less than 0.002). On average, blood volume was decreased by 49% +/- 11% and blood speed by 30% +/- 17%. Combining the results of these two techniques yielded a relative index of blood flow that showed a significant reduction in the atrophic nerves (P less than 0.0001), averaging 64% +/- 14% temporally. Nasally there was less reduction in blood flow. The results correlated well with clinical assessment of the degree of optic nerve damage (rho = 0.92, P less than 0.002). This study demonstrates that clinical neurogenic optic atrophy induces significant reductions in overall anterior optic nerve blood flow that are detected by these noninvasive techniques.