Ophthalmodynamography and ophthalmodynamometry in neurological practice

Abstract

Inventarisation of atraumatic methods of analysing the circulation in the carotid region shows that they generally can be classified as physiological or anatomical. Physiological methods focus on blood circulation time or on the pulsating changes in blood pressure, blood velocity, blood vessel diameter and cerebral volume. In this study the reliability of two pressure-dependent methods, namely ophthalmodynamography and ophthalmodynamometry, for the detection of haemodynamically significant carotid stenosis is established. Correct results were found in 78--82% of cases. Ophthalmodynamography, and the advantage of combining this method with ophthalmodynamometry, are more extensively investigated. Although in recent years attention has been focussed on the study of the blood velocity pulsations with the Doppler technique, maximal diagnostic efficacy can be expected from a combination of pressure and flow wave studies. A way to compare all the information contained in the curves can be found in the technique of Fourier analysis. The results obtained by Fourier analysis of the ophthalmodynamographic curves are presented.