Assessment of Neuroretinal Circulation in Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy Using Optical Coherence Tomography

Anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION) is a major cause of blindness. Whereas non-arteritic AION (NA-AION) is thought to be due to hypoperfusion, arteritic AION (A-AION) is due to inflammation and subsequent thrombotic occlusion of the short posterior ciliary arteries. Both conditions reduce blood flow velocities to the prelaminar optic nerve head. Reduced flow velocities in retinal vessels has been shown to alter the reflectivity on cross-sectional optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans. This potential has been insufficiently explored in AION. We have evaluated the retinal vessel reflectivity in one healthy control, one patient with NA-AION, and one with A-AION.