Use of orbital color Doppler imaging for detecting internal carotid artery stenosis in patients with amaurosis fugax.

Objective: To determine whether orbital color Doppler imaging (CDI) can be used to detect internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS) in patients with amaurosis fugax (AF).

Methods: Twenty patients with AF (20 symptomatic eyes) and 14 normal controls (14 randomly selected eyes) were studied. The AF patients were divided by magnetic resonance angiography or carotid arteriography into those without ICAS (Group 1, n=14), and those with ICAS (Group 2, n=6). The peak systolic velocities (PSV) and end diastolic velocities (EDV) of the ophthalmic artery (OA) and the central retinal artery (CRA) were determined by orbital CDI, and the values were compared between the three groups.

Results: There were no significant differences in the PSV and EDV of the CRA between the three groups. However, the PSV and EDV of the OA were significantly lower in Group 2 than in the other two groups. From the distribution of PSV-OA and EDV-OA in AF patients, Group 2 could be separated from Group 1 by the PSV-OA value of 10 cm/s.

Conclusions: The PSV-OA of 10 cm/s can be used to identify AF patients with ICAS. It is concluded that orbital CDI is a valuable method for detecting ICAS in AF patients.