DOPPLER ULTRASONOGRAPHY OF THE CENTRAL RETINAL ARTERY BY DUPLEX SCANNING

Purpose: To present duplex scanning of the central retinal artery, whi ch the authors have termed duplex scanner imaging, as an alternative t o color Doppler imaging in the evaluation of retinal blood flow veloci ty, and to show the difference in measurements obtained with the two d ifferent techniques, Methods: The high-resolution ATL-Ultramark 4 dupl ex scanner (Advanced Technology Laboratories, Bothell, WA) with the va riable focus access probe was used to measure blood flow velocity of t he central retinal artery in the eyes of 48 healthy volunteers, Result s: Using this technique the peak systolic flow velocity (+/- standard deviation [SD]) of the central retinal artery was 36.6 +/- 10.8 cm/sec , and the end diastolic flow velocity was 12.6 +/- 3.7 cm/sec. Conclus ion: The flow velocity measurements of the central retinal artery obta ined with this technique were much higher than those obtained by other authors using color Doppler imaging (9.6 cm/sec for the peak systolic flow velocity, and 4.7 cm/sec for the end diastolic flow velocity). T he authors propose duplex scanner imaging as an alternative to color D oppler imaging for evaluating retinal blood flow velocity. The duplex scanner also can be used to measure the flow velocity of orbital vesse ls.