Feasibility of a method for measurement of retinal pulse-propagated wave velocity in humans

Blood flow regulation has been shown to be compromised in common ocular diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. The capacity of the retinal vessels to regulate blood flow can potentially serve as an oculomics biomarker for evaluating ocular and systemic diseases. Pulse-propagated intravascular pressure waves cause deformations of the vessel walls, thus offering a means to interrogate vascular compliance. The purpose of the current study is to report a method for measuring retinal pulse-propagated wave velocity (rPWV) based on spectral analysis of pulsatile intensity waveforms in human circumpapillary retinal vasculature. Arterial and venous rPWV values, as well as inter-subject variabilities of rPWV in non-diabetic and diabetic subjects, are reported. Preliminary results demonstrated the feasibility of this method for measuring rPWV and its potential for assessment of vascular plasticity in response to blood flow changes due to ocular and systemic diseases.