Measurement of absolute blood flow velocity and blood flow in the human retina by dual-beam bidirectional Doppler fourier-domain optical coherence tomography.

PURPOSE The present experiments were undertaken to evaluate the validity of absolute flow velocity measurements with a dual-beam bidirectional Doppler Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) system. METHODS The flow velocities of diluted milk through a glass capillary were measured at 30 different preset velocities in the range of 0.9 to 39.3 mm/s by bidirectional Doppler FD-OCT. The flow through the capillary was controlled by two infusion pumps working in different flow ranges and based on different technical principles. In vivo the validity of the method for measuring blood flow in retinal vessels was tested at bifurcations. The continuity equation was verified at 10 retinal venous bifurcations of 10 young healthy subjects (mean age, 29 ± 3 years) by velocity measurements, using dual-beam bidirectional Doppler FD-OCT, and measurements of retinal diameters, using the Dynamic Vessel Analyzer. RESULTS Flow velocities as measured with bidirectional Doppler FD-OCT in the glass capillary were in good agreement with the preset velocities (r = 0.994, P < 0.001 each). No significant difference was found between flow in the trunk vessels before the bifurcation (11.3 ± 5.2 μL/min) and the sum of flows in the daughter vessels (10.7 ± 4.8 μL/min). A significant association was found between retinal vessel diameters and both retinal blood velocities (r = 0.72, P < 0.001) and retinal blood flow (r = 0.95, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Dual-beam bidirectional Doppler FD-OCT delivered accurate retinal blood velocity values and, thus, offers high potential for examination of retinal blood flow in ocular disease.

[1]  R S Sobel,et al.  Fluorescein angiography complication survey. , 1986, Ophthalmology.

[2]  Richard B. Rosen,et al.  Retinal Blood Flow in the Normal Human Eye Using the Canon Laser Blood Flowmeter , 2002, Ophthalmic Research.

[3]  Christian Ahlers,et al.  Imaging of the retinal pigment epithelium in age-related macular degeneration using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. , 2010, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[4]  A. Fercher,et al.  In vivo human retinal imaging by Fourier domain optical coherence tomography. , 2002, Journal of biomedical optics.

[5]  Y. Yasuno,et al.  Full-range, high-speed, high-resolution 1 microm spectral-domain optical coherence tomography using BM-scan for volumetric imaging of the human posterior eye. , 2008, Optics express.

[6]  Charles E. Riva,et al.  Fundus camera based retinal LDV. , 1981, Applied optics.

[7]  Teresa C. Chen,et al.  In vivo dynamic human retinal blood flow imaging using ultra-high-speed spectral domain optical Doppler tomography , 2003 .

[8]  Josef Flammer,et al.  Oxygen and blood flow: players in the pathogenesis of glaucoma , 2008, Molecular vision.

[9]  A. Fercher,et al.  In vivo optical coherence tomography. , 1993, American journal of ophthalmology.

[10]  Douglas R. Anderson,et al.  Use of colour Doppler imaging in ocular blood flow research , 2011, Acta ophthalmologica.

[11]  U. Schmidt-Erfurth,et al.  In vivo retinal morphology after grid laser treatment in diabetic macular edema. , 2010, Ophthalmology.

[12]  Rainer A. Leitgeb,et al.  Segmentation of Doppler optical coherence tomography signatures using a support-vector machine , 2011, Biomedical optics express.

[13]  Shuichi Makita,et al.  Comprehensive in vivo micro-vascular imaging of the human eye by dual-beam-scan Doppler optical coherence angiography. , 2011, Optics express.

[14]  C D Murray,et al.  The Physiological Principle of Minimum Work: I. The Vascular System and the Cost of Blood Volume. , 1926, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[15]  J. Fujimoto,et al.  Optical Coherence Tomography , 1991 .

[16]  C E Riva,et al.  Total retinal volumetric blood flow rate in diabetic patients with poor glycemic control. , 1992, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[17]  Christoph Kolbitsch,et al.  Ultra-high-speed volumetric tomography of human retinal blood flow. , 2009, Optics express.

[18]  Patricia Piers,et al.  Model eyes for evaluation of intraocular lenses. , 2007, Applied optics.

[19]  B L Petrig,et al.  Blood velocity and volumetric flow rate in human retinal vessels. , 1985, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[20]  M. Wojtkowski,et al.  Phase-resolved Doppler optical coherence tomography--limitations and improvements. , 2008, Optics letters.

[21]  U. Schmidt-Erfurth,et al.  Three-dimensional ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography of macular diseases. , 2005, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[22]  C. Riva,et al.  Laser Doppler measurements of blood flow in capillary tubes and retinal arteries. , 1972, Investigative ophthalmology.

[23]  L. Leila.  Adverse effects of fluorescein angiography. , 2006, Acta ophthalmologica Scandinavica.

[24]  C E Riva,et al.  Laser Doppler measurements of blood velocity in human retinal vessels. , 1978, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[25]  H. Helmholtz.  Helmholtz's Treatise on Physiological Optics , 1963 .

[26]  W Drexler,et al.  Ultrahigh resolution Fourier domain optical coherence tomography. , 2004, Optics express.

[27]  A. Yoshida,et al.  Reproducibility and clinical application of a newly developed stabilized retinal laser Doppler instrument. , 2003, American journal of ophthalmology.

[28]  Joseph A Izatt,et al.  Pilot study of optical coherence tomography measurement of retinal blood flow in retinal and optic nerve diseases. , 2011, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[29]  Toco Y P Chui,et al.  Noninvasive measurements and analysis of blood velocity profiles in human retinal vessels. , 2011, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[30]  Leopold Schmetterer,et al.  Ocular blood flow in diabetes and age-related macular degeneration. , 2008, Canadian journal of ophthalmology. Journal canadien d'ophtalmologie.

[31]  Daniel X Hammer,et al.  Dual-beam Fourier domain optical Doppler tomography of zebrafish. , 2008, Optics express.

[32]  W. Drexler,et al.  In vivo retinal optical coherence tomography at 1040 nm - enhanced penetration into the choroid. , 2005, Optics express.

[33]  J. Izatt,et al.  Measurement of total blood flow in the normal human retina using Doppler Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography , 2009, British Journal of Ophthalmology.

[34]  David Huang,et al.  Retinal blood flow detection in diabetic patients by Doppler Fourier domain optical coherence tomography. , 2009, Optics express.

[35]  Martin F. Kraus,et al.  Total retinal blood flow measurement with ultrahigh speed swept source/Fourier domain OCT , 2011, Biomedical optics express.

[36]  Leopold Schmetterer,et al.  Bidirectional Doppler Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography for measurement of absolute flow velocities in human retinal vessels. , 2008, Optics letters.

[37]  Larry Kagemann,et al.  An update on retinal circulation assessment technologies , 2003, Current eye research.

[38]  L. Schmetterer,et al.  Effect of regular smoking on flicker induced retinal vasodilatation in healthy subjects. , 2011, Microvascular research.

[39]  J. Izatt,et al.  Retinal blood flow measurement by circumpapillary Fourier domain Doppler optical coherence tomography. , 2008, Journal of biomedical optics.

[40]  O Findl,et al.  Evaluation of the Zeiss retinal vessel analyser , 2000, The British journal of ophthalmology.

[41]  L. Schmetterer,et al.  Retinal blood flow in healthy young subjects. , 2012, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[42]  R. Zawadzki,et al.  Real-time assessment of retinal blood flow with ultrafast acquisition by color Doppler Fourier domain optical coherence tomography. , 2003, Optics express.

[43]  B B Goldberg,et al.  Color Doppler imaging of the eye and orbit. Technique and normal vascular anatomy. , 1991, Archives of ophthalmology.

[44]  T. Yatagai,et al.  Optical coherence angiography. , 2006, Optics express.

[45]  David Huang,et al.  Measurement of absolute flow velocity vector using dual-angle, delay-encoded Doppler optical coherence tomography. , 2007, Optics letters.

[46]  Rainer A. Leitgeb,et al.  Stable absolute flow estimation with Doppler OCT based on virtual circumpapillary scans , 2010, Biomedical optics express.

[47]  G T Feke,et al.  Blood flow in the normal human retina. , 1989, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.