Retinal oxygen metabolism in healthy subjects and glaucoma patients

Abstract

Glaucoma patients with advanced glaucoma have higher oxygen saturation in venules and lower arteriovenous difference in oxygen saturation compared with healthy individuals. The decreased arteriovenous difference in severe glaucoma may be related to lower oxygen consumption secondary to neuropathy.

Retinal Oxygen Saturation in Patients with Primary Open-angle Glaucoma Using a Non-flash Hypespectral Camera

“…These results are in agreement with outcomes from previous studies that have investigated retinal SO 2 in patients with glaucoma using different techniques. 16,17 A complex of clinical factors contributing to the pathophysiology of glaucomatous optic neuropathy, including altered retinal blood flow and ischemia, has made the use of retinal oximetry a potentially important clinical tool in the diagnosis of glaucoma. Michelson and Scibor 10 reported significantly lower arterial oxygen saturation in patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG) compared to healthy controls (89.7% ± 5.4% vs. 92.3% ± 3.4%) and reported a significant association with glaucomatous optic rim damage in more advanced glaucoma.…”

Reproducibility of retinal oxygen saturation in normal and treated glaucomatous eyes

“…The RGCs and their axons are supplied by the retinal circulation, through central retinal artery (CRA), and blood flow has been shown to be reduced in glaucomatous ONH, and retina compared with normal eyes 25. Several studies have shown that the arteriovenous SaO 2 is different between advanced glaucoma and normal eyes 12 14. SRO is a novel imaging technology that uses a modified digital camera to provide quantitative measurements of oxygenation of retinal vessels in human eyes 17–19.…”

Regulation of retinal oxygen metabolism in humans during graded hypoxia

“…The development of high-speed charge coupled device cameras has improved reliability and reproducibility of the measurements, and two techniques recently became commercially available to assess oxygen saturation in retinal arteries and veins in humans. As such values for retinal arterial and venous oxygen saturation have been published in patients with glaucoma (40,41), age-related macular degeneration (17), diabetes (20,25), and retinal vascular occlusion (23,24). It is, however, difficult to fully accomplish the meaning of these data, because none of the studies has measured retinal blood flow and could therefore draw conclusions on retinal oxygen extraction.…”