Retinal oxygen saturation levels in patients with central retinal vein occlusion.

PURPOSE To validate the efficacy of Fourier transform-based spectral retinal imaging (SRI) in quantifying retinal ischemia. DESIGN Prospective, observational case series. PATIENTS AND METHODS Eleven eyes of 10 patients with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) and 4 fellow unaffected eyes of selected patients were examined by both fluorescein angiography and SRI. The fluorescein angiograms were correlated with oxygen saturation maps that were calculated from the SRI. RESULTS Oxygen saturation levels in the fundus were shown as color grading in 35 degrees fundus images processed by SRI. This grading correlated well with the severity of CRVO, as estimated by fluorescein angiography. CONCLUSIONS The severity of circulatory disturbances in CRVO may be graded by applying SRI.