Color Doppler Imaging of Orbital Blood Flow in Dysthyroid Ophthalmopathy

Abstract

39 orbits of 20 patients with dysthyroid ophthalmopathy and 22 orbits of 11 healthy control subjects were studied by color Doppler imaging. The authors found that blood in the superior ophthalmic vein flowed in the postero-anterior direction in 6 of the dysthyroid orbits. The superior ophthalmic vein blood flow in the postero-anterior direction was seen more frequently in the orbits in which apical orbital crowding, i.e. compression of the optic nerve by enlarged extraocular muscles, was observed on CT than in orbits without evidence of apical orbital crowding. Blood flow in the postero-anterior direction in the superior ophthalmic vein was seen also more frequently in orbits with dysthyroid optic neuropathy than in orbits without dysthyroid optic neuropathy. Color Doppler imaging has been shown to be a useful noninvasive tool for both the analysis of the venous stasis in the orbit and management of dysthyroid ophthalmopathy, especially with respect to assessing the risk of developing optic neuropathy.