RETINAL HEMODYNAMICS USING SCANNING LASER OPHTHALMOSCOPY AND HEMORHEOLOGY IN CHRONIC OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA

Purpose: Recent studies suggest that elevated intraocular pressure is not the only causative factor for the development of visual field loss and optic nerve damage in glaucomatous eyes. The authors determine wh ether retinal hemodynamics or blood fluidity are alternated in eyes of patients with open-angle glaucoma compared with those of age- and sex -matched healthy subjects. Method. High-quality video fluorescein angi ograms were obtained from single eyes of 51 patients with chronic open -angle glaucoma. From these angiograms, the arm-retina time, mean dye velocity, and arteriovenous passage time were quantified. The data fro m patients were compared with those of an age- and sex-matched group o f healthy subjects. Results: In patients with chronic open-angle glauc oma, an 11% reduction of the mean dye velocity (P < 0.05) and a 41% pr olongation of the arteriovenous passage time (P < 0.01) was observed r elative to the values obtained among the control subjects. Among hemat ocrit values, plasma viscosity, and erythrocyte aggregation, only plas ma viscosity showed a significant increase (4%; P < 0.01) in patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma. Conclusion: These results indicate t hat a pronounced circulatory deficit exists within the retinal vascula ture of glaucomatous eyes, which may coexist with, but cannot be fully attributed to, an increase in plasma viscosity.