OCULAR HYPERTENSION AND PRIMARY OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF THEIR RETROBULBAR BLOOD-FLOW VELOCITY

Purpose: To compare the orbital blood flow velocities of patients with long-standing ocular hypertension and patients with primary open-angl e glaucoma. Methods: Twenty patients with ocular hypertension were rec ruited from our clinic and underwent color Doppler imaging evaluation of their retrobulbar vessels, The blood flow velocities and resistance index of their central retinal artery, temporal short posterior cilia ry artery, and ophthalmic artery were compared with those of 20 glauco ma patients individually matched for age and level of the highest untr eated intraocular pressure ever recorded. Results: Glaucoma patients h ad significantly lower peak systolic velocity and end-diastolic veloci ty than did patients with ocular hypertension in their central retinal artery (p < 0.001). No significant difference between the groups was observed in the other vessels studied. Conclusions: Glaucoma patients had lower blood flow velocity in the central retinal artery compared w ith that of ocular hypertension patients of similar age and level of u ntreated intraocular pressure. This might be important in the developm ent of glaucomatous damage in those patients.