Objective: To evaluate orbital blood flow velocities by using color Doppler imaging in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma.
Design: Prospective, comparative case series.
Participants: Twenty-eight patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome (n = 14) or pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (n = 14) and 14 healthy control participants were included.
Intervention: Color Doppler imaging was used with a 7.5-MHz probe. Evaluation of the ophthalmic, central retinal, short posterior nasal, and temporal ciliary arteries was performed, and peak systolic and end diastolic flow velocities were measured. Resistive indices were calculated.
Results: When compared with the control participants, patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome showed statistically significant decreases in the mean peak systolic velocity of the central retinal artery (11.21 +/- 2.19 cm/second; P < 0.05), and end diastolic velocities of the central retinal artery (3.00 +/- 1.03 cm/second; P < 0.005), and short posterior temporal ciliary arteries (3.50 +/- 1.74 cm/second; P < 0.005), whereas mean resistive indices of the ophthalmic artery (0.75 +/- 0.06 cm/second; P < 0.005) and central retinal artery were found to have increased (0.70 +/- 0.05 cm/second; P < 0.01). Patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma, when compared with the control participants, showed statistically significant decreases in the mean peak systolic and end diastolic velocities and increased mean resistive indices in all vessels measured (P < 0.05). Compared with the patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome, patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma showed statistically significant decreases in the mean peak systolic velocities of the ophthalmic artery (30.07 +/- 4.00 cm/second; P < 0.05) and short posterior nasal ciliary arteries (2.35 +/- 0.09 cm/second; P < 0.05), and in the mean end diastolic velocities of the ophthalmic artery (6.28 +/- 2.12 cm/second; P < 0.05), and short posterior nasal ciliary arteries (2.35 +/- 0.09 cm/second; P < 0.05). The differences in the mean resistive indices were not statistically significant between the patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome and the ones with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that hemodynamic parameters in the retrobulbar vessels were altered in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma; however, these alterations were more prominent in the latter group.