Venous Ocular Blood Flow in Primary Open Angle Glaucoma - Special Issue

Purpose: To study venous blood flow of the eye and the correlation between clinical data and ocular blood flow in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Methods: Color Doppler imaging of arterial and venous blood flow was performed in 78 patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG), 80 patients with high pressure glaucoma (HPG) and 60 control subjects. The statistical analysis included the calculation of correlation between clinical data and ocular blood flow parameters as well as Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The threshold P value for statistical significance was 0.05. Results: Ocular blood flow (both arterial and venous) was significantly reduced in NTG and HTG in comparison to the control group. While arterial blood flow reduction was more significant in HTG than in NTG, venous blood flow decrease was more marked in NTG. In contrast to the control group, POAG patients showed a correlation between clinical data and venous blood flow. The correlation was higher in NTG patients. Conclusions: The obtained results indicate the potential importance of venous blood flow in glaucoma pathogenesis, especially in NTG.