[Analysis of blood flow velocity in the ophthalmic artery by color Doppler imaging. 2. Studies on diabetic eyes].

Color Doppler imaging was used to investigate the changes in Pourcelot index (RI), which is an index for vascular resistance calculated from the blood flow velocity of the ophthalmic artery, related to the complications of diabetes mellitus (diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy) and systemic background (duration of diabetes mellitus, value of hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c)) in 46 diabetic patients and in 20 normal subjects. RI was significantly higher in diabetic patients than in normal subjects (p < 0.05). RI increased in patients without retinopathy (p < 0.05), in patients with background retinopathy (p < 0.05), and in patients with preproliferative or proliferative retinopathy (p < 0.05), but it did not change in patients after panretinal photocoagulation, compared with the normal subjects. In diabetic patients, RI was higher (p < 0.05) in patients with nephropathy than in those without nephropathy. The time from onset of diabetes mellitus and the value of HbA1c had no correlation with RI. Our results indicate that choroidal circulation was changed in diabetic patients compared with normal subjects and that the changes were related to diabetic nephropathy.