OPHTHALMIC ARTERY ANEURYSMS - AN INVESTIGATION BY DUPLEX SCAN

With the objective of analyzing the postaneurysmal peak systolic veloc ity (PSV) in ophthalmic arteries, duplex scanning was analyzed in 28 c arotid-ophthalmic artery segments after exclusion of ipsilateral carot id stenosis, For comparison, the angiographic study of the extracrania l and intracranial carotid system was utilized as the ''gold standard, '' A subgroup of 7 subjects with 8 ophthalmic arteries with aneurysms identified where the artery leaves the internal carotid artery present ed with PSVs significantly reduced (mean PSVs 17.95 +/- 7.99 cm/s) com pared to the mean PSVs in the healthy group (27.95 +/- 5.54 cm/s) (p = 0.006), A PSV of less than 19 cm/s offered a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 100% in diagnosing ophthalmic artery aneurysms, We con clude that duplex scan is diagnostically useful in the identification of patients with ophthalmic artery aneurysms when severe ipsilateral c arotid stenosis is excluded, (C) 1997 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.