Choroidal hemodynamic changes during isometric exercise in patients with inactive central serous chorioretinopathy.
OBJECTIVE
Imaging studies suggest that the choroidal vasculature may be altered in central serous chorioretinopathy. Little is known, however, about the regulation of ocular blood flow in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). The hypothesis for the present study was that choroidal blood flow changes during an increase in ocular perfusion pressure induced by isometric exercise may be altered in CSC.


METHODS
An observer-masked, two-cohort study was performed in 14 nonsmoking patients with chronic-relapsing but inactive CSC and in 14 healthy nonsmoking volunteers. Both groups were matched for age and sex. Subfoveal choroidal blood flow (CBF) was assessed with laser Doppler flowmetry, and ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) was calculated from mean arterial pressure (MAP) and intraocular pressure (IOP). Changes of CBF during isometric exercise over a period of 6 minutes were measured.


RESULTS
Whereas the increase of MAP, the pulse rate, and the OPP were comparable between the two study groups, subfoveal CBF increased significantly more in the group of patients with CSC (P < 0.001). IOP remained unchanged in both groups during isometric exercise. At an 85% increase in OPP, subfoveal CBF was approximately twice as high in the patients with CSC compared with the healthy control group.


CONCLUSIONS
The data indicate an abnormal subfoveal CBF regulation in patients with relapsing CSC compared with age-matched, nonsmoking, healthy volunteers during isometric exercise.
Tittl
Michael
M
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Maar
Noemi
N
Polska
Elzbieta
E
Weigert
Günther
G
Stur
Michael
M
Schmetterer
Leopold
L
D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply*; D015862:Choroid Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D007208:Indocyanine Green; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D044967:Serum; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular
D007208:Indocyanine Green