Comparison of orbital colour Doppler findings with computed tomography angiography

Colour Doppler imaging (CDI) of orbital vessels is non- invasive but may be fallacious, while computed tomography (CT) angiography displays a visual o utline of orbital vessels. We compared clinical findings of the two methods in 33 patients with a wide variety of clinical conditions. It was not poss ible to visualize the central retinal arteries with CT angiography, but it was possible to show the intracranial carotid, which CDI could not. Changes in the ophthalmic arteries on CDI usually showed changes in calibre on CT angiography. Patients with unexplained or gross visual loss often showed ma rked abnormalities on CT scanning, not entirely consistent with the clinica l picture. Several patients showed marked ectasia of the intracranial carot id along with variable clinical findings. Findings on CT angiography comple ment and augment those on CDI, and are likely to be more clinically valuabl e in the future.