In vivo total retinal blood flow measurement by Fourier domain Doppler optical coherence tomography

Abstract

There is considerable interest in new methods for the assessment of retinal blood flow for the diagnosis of eye diseases. We present in vivo normal human volumetric retinal flow measurement using Fourier domain Doppler optical coherence tomography. We used a dual-plane scanning pattern to determine the angle between the blood flow and the scanning beam in order to measure total flow velocity. Volumetric flow in each blood vessel around the optic nerve head was integrated in one cardiac cycle in each measurement. Measurements were performed in the right eye of one human subject. The measured venous flow velocity ranged from 16.26 mm/s to 29.7 mm/s. The arterial flow velocity ranged from 38.35 mm/s to 51.13 mm/s. The total retinal venous and arterial flow both added up to approximately 54 microl/min. We believe this is the first demonstration of total retinal blood flow measurement using the OCT technique.