Noninvasive measurements and analysis of blood velocity profiles in human retinal vessels.

PURPOSE To quantitatively model the changes in blood velocity profiles for different cardiac phases in human retinal vessels. METHODS An adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) was used to measure blood velocity profiles in three healthy subjects. Blood velocity was measured by tracking erythrocytes moving across a scanning line. From the radial position of the cells within the lumen, the blood velocity profile was computed. The cardiac pulsatility was recorded with a cardiac signal monitor. RESULTS The shape of the blood velocity profile in retinal arteries changed systematically during the cardiac cycle, with the flattest profile occurring during the diastolic phase. The measured blood velocity profiles were typically flatter than the commonly assumed parabolic shape. The flatness increased with decreasing vessel size. For the large veins (>80 μm), the ratio of the centerline velocity to the cross-sectional average velocity was between 1.50 and 1.65. This ratio decreased to 1.36 in the smallest vein studied (32 μm). Velocity profiles downstream from a venous confluence showed two peaks at 120 μm from the confluence, but a single velocity peak 500 μm downstream from the confluence. CONCLUSIONS The cardiac cycle influences the blood flow velocity profiles systematically in retinal arteries but not in veins. Parabolic flow was not found in even the largest vessels studied, and deviations from parabolic flow increased in smaller vessels. The measurements are sensitive enough to measure the dual-humped blood velocity profile at a vein confluence.