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Noninvasive assessment of the ocular circulation: color Doppler imaging
1Veterans Administration Medical Center, Coatesville, PA 19320.
Background:
Color Doppler Imaging (CDI) has become instrumental in the noninvasive study of vascular disorders. CDI provides information about presence and direction of blood flow, flow velocity and flow disturbances in real-time with anatomical localization.
Methods:
The medical and ophthalmic literature was reviewed to gather information about color Doppler technology and its application in ocular disease.
Results:
Resolution limits of conventional ultrasound have previously prevented reliable noninvasive imaging of small vessels in the eye. CDI now permits the reliable identification of small blood vessels and measurements of blood flow within the eye.
Conclusions:
Color Doppler technology remains prohibitively expensive and therefore is not widely available. How this technology can be used for ophthalmic application is still a relatively new area of research and more studies are needed to determine the reliability and limitations of CDI when it is used to image the eye and how it compares to other imaging techniques that are currently in use.