Correlations between retinal fluorescein angiography and blood viscosity and other factors in patients with primary open angle glaucoma

Objective: To investigate the correlations between retinal fluorescein angiography and blood viscosity and other factors in patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG).

Methods: Multiple stepwise regression analysis was made to approach the correlation between each of the following blood vessel filling times: the arm-choroid (A-CT), arm-retinal artery (A-AT), and retinal artery-venous (A-VT) of the fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) in 122 eyes with POAG and each of the following related factors in hemorheology: whole blood apparent viscosity at low, medium and high shear rates, plasma viscosity and hematocrit. Also, the same analysis was applied to investigate the correlation between each of the A-AT, A-VT of the FFA in 70 eyes with POAG and each of the following factors: systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, age and the whole blood apparent viscosity at low shear rate.

Results: The whole blood apparent viscosity at low shear rate was closely related to A-CT and A-AT, while hematocrit was closely related to A-VT of the FFA. The whole blood apparent viscosity at low shear rate and age, especially whole blood apparent viscosity, was closely related to A-AT, A-VT of the FFA.

Conclusions: The blood viscosity can affect the filling times of the FFA in POAG.