title: An approach to measure blood flow in single choroidal vessel using Doppler optical coherence tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the absolute blood flow rate in a single choroidal vessel using Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Three choroidal vessels were selected in the right eye of three normal subjects, and were measured with Doppler OCT at a 1020-nm probe wavelength. The pulsatile change of the blood flow was obtained from synchronized measurement of Doppler OCT and plethysmography. Absolute blood flow rates in choroidal vessels were calculated from Doppler OCT volume data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cyclic change of the blood flow was quantitatively obtained. Absolute blood flow velocities and blood flow rates at peak systole [mean (SD)] were 46.9 (12.5) mm/s and 5.9 (3.6) μL/min, respectively. The coefficient of variation of three sets of measurements [mean (SD)] was 9.3 (4.9%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Doppler OCT and plethysmography provided an accurate quantitative assessment of the blood flow in choroidal vessels. This measurement technique could prove valuable to the study of choroidal blood flow in normal and pathologic conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Medical University, Ibaraki Medical Center, Ami, Japan. m-miura@tokyo-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Shuichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Makita
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yasuno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology*; D019842:Ciliary Arteries / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D010991:Plethysmography / Q000379:methods; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards