The inner retina is crucially dependent on an adequate retinal blood supply. When the retina becomes ischemic and hypoxic this results in severe vision loss due to retinal neovascularization. Measurement of retinal blood flow and retinal oxygenation is, however, still a difficult task. Information on retinal oxygenation is almost unavailable from human studies. In the present protocol the investigators propose a procedure allowing for the measurement of retinal blood flow, retinal oxygenation and retinal oxygen extraction by combining a number of innovative techniques. Specifically, retinal vessel diameters will be measured with a Retinal Vessel Analyzer, retinal blood velocities with bi-directional laser Doppler velocimetry and retinal oxygenation with spectroscopic evaluation of retinal fundus images. This will allow for the calculation of retinal oxygen extraction, a fundamental parameter of retinal function. Up to now, no data for retinal oxygen extraction are available in the literature.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
48
100% Oxygen inhalation for 30 minutes
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
Retinal blood velocity Retinal vessel diameters Oxygen saturation of retinal vessels Oxygen extraction as calculated from these parameters
Time frame: 20 min ocular blood flow measurement on 1 study day
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