Studying ocular blood flow in patients with retinitis pigmentosa using laser speckle flowgraphy

Abstract

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) ranks first in the structure of hereditary retinal diseases. Vasoconstriction is one of the main ophthalmoscopic indications of PR. Laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) is a new non-invasive method that allows quantitative assessment of blood flow in the posterior pole of the eye.Purpose: to evaluate changes in blood flow as determined by the LSFG method in the area of the optic nerve head (ONH) and the macular area in PR patients.Material and methods. The study included 16 patients with PR aged 25 to 70 years. The control group consisted of 40 healthy volunteers, comparable in gender and age. Blood flow was determined using an LSFG-RetFlow device (Nidek), the main indicator of blood flow determined was MBR (Mean Blur Rate), which was measured for the entire study area, as well as separately for large vessels, and for the microvasculature. A wide range of pulse wave parameters determined by the tool instrument was also analyzed.Results. This study revealed a significant decrease in blood flow in PR patients compared with healthy individuals in different age groups and at different stages of the disease (p d 0.05). In patients with low visual acuity, the deficit of blood flow in the macular area was found to be more pronounced.Conclusion. LSFG is an effective method for determining ocular blood flow in PR patients. The data may indicate that a decrease in blood flow is an independent pathogenetic factor in the development of PD. In the future, the method can be used to assess the effectiveness of therapy of patients with PR.