Characterization of parafoveal hemodynamics associated with diabetic retinopathy with adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and computational fluid dynamics.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) remains the leading cause of visual loss in working age adults in the United States and other developed countries worldwide. Previous studies have reported hemodynamic changes in the diabetic eye that precede clinically evident pathological alterations of the retinal microvasculature. There exists a pressing need for new methods to allow greater understanding of these early hemodynamic changes that occur in DR. In the current study, we propose a noninvasive method for the assessment of hemodynamics around the fovea (a region of the eye of paramount importance for vision). The proposed methodology combines adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and computational fluid dynamics modeling and simulation. Our preliminary results indicate that the technique presented here is feasible for the assessment of hemodynamics in the foveal region of the eye and, moreover, that it is capable of detecting differences in hemodynamics between eyes that may be associated with DR status. We believe that the proposed methodology has the potential to become a useful tool for the evaluation of human retinal hemodynamics in a clinical context.