Analysis of blood flow velocity of ophthalmic artery with color Doppler imaging. 1. Studies on normal human eyes

Color Doppler imaging was used to analyze the blood flow velocity of the ophthalmic artery (BVA) by measuring the pulse wave of flow velocity in the ophthalmic artery of normal subjects. Maximum systolic BVA (Vmax), minimum end-diastolic BVA (Vmin), time-averaged BVA (Vmean), Pourcelot index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) were determined using color Doppler imaging. The coefficients of reproducibility of Vmax, Vmin, Vmean, RI and PI were 10%, 9%, 15%, 4% and 14%, respectively, when analyzed twice at one-hour intervals. There was no significant difference between the values of the right eye and that of the left eye in each case. The averages of Vmax, Vmin, Vmean, RI and PI of 33 normal eyes were 25.4 +/- 7.6 cm/sec, 6.3 +/- 2.3 cm/sec 16.7 +/- 6.6 cm/sec, 0.75 +/- 0.052, 1.19 +/- 0.25 (mean +/- S.D.), respectively, Vmax, Vmin and Vmean decreased significantly with age (Vmax:linear correlation coefficient r = -0.65, p < 0.001; Vmin: r = -0.61, p < 0.001, r = -0.64, p < 0.001. RI did not change with age. PI increased significantly with age (r = 0.30, p < 0.05).