Macular blood flow measured by blue-field entoptoscopy and Heidelberg retinal flowmetry: comparison of two techniques in type 1 diabetes women during pregnancy.
OBJECTIVE
This study compared macular capillary leucocyte velocity values measured with a psychophysical blue-field entoptic simulation (BFS) technique and confocal scanning laser Doppler flowmetry.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was performed where macular capillary leucocyte velocity was measured by BFS using an Oculix BFS-2000 V2.1 psychophysical system and by confocal scanning laser Doppler flowmetry using Heidelberg retinal flowmetry (HRF) in 35 type 1 diabetes women during the second trimester.


RESULTS
The macular leucocyte velocities measured with BFS correlated significantly with the 50th percentile (r = 0.345, p = 0.042, n = 35, Spearman's non-parametric correlation), the 75th percentile (r = 0.432, p = 0.009) and the 90th percentile (r = 0.373, p = 0.027) of HRF flow values during the second trimester. However, there was no correlation between BFS velocity and the 25th percentile of HRF measurements.


CONCLUSIONS
Blue-field simulation is known to be an experimental technique that provides a quantitative measure of flow in the perifoveal capillary network. By contrast, HRF imaging reflects quantitative, multispectral, objective and non-invasive measurements in a two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional retinal capillary bed. Our study showed that BFS velocity was correlated with HRF values in a group of women with diabetes during pregnancy. The positive correlation between BFS and HRF values suggests that the psychophysical BFS and scanning laser-based HRF measure similar functions in the retina.
Loukovaara
Sirpa
S
Department of Ophthalmology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland. sirpa.loukovaara@hus.fi
Harju
Mika
M
Immonen
Ilkka
I
D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D007962:Leukocytes; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000098:blood supply*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011601:Psychophysics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000503:physiopathology*