Reversed ophthalmic Doppler signal: a study of its significance

The pathophysiological significance in carotid artery stenoses of a collateral circulation via the external carotid and ophthalmic arteries is investigated with the use of three non-invasive techniques: Doppler ultrasonography, ophthalmodynamometry and ophthalmodynamography . 21 Carotid arteries with and 26 without a stenosis greater than 50% at angiography are studied. Finding a reversed flow direction in the ophthalmic artery points towards a low pressure in the carotid syphon and indicates that the patient is, hemodynamically speaking, in danger. This concerns the cerebral as well as the retinal circulation.