Measurement of the total retinal blood flow using dual beam Fourier-domain Doppler optical coherence tomography with orthogonal detection planes

Abstract

We present a system capable of measuring the total retinal blood flow using a combination of dual beam Fourier-domain Doppler optical coherence tomography with orthogonal detection planes and a fundus camera-based retinal vessel analyzer. Our results show a high degree of conformity of venous and arterial flows, which corroborates the validity of the measurements. In accordance with Murray's law, the log-log regression coefficient between vessel diameter and blood flow was found to be ~3. The blood's velocity scaled linearly with the vessel diameter at higher diameters (> 60 µm), but showed a clear divergence from the linear dependence at lower diameters. Good agreement with literature data and the large range and high measurement sensitivity point to a high potential for further investigations.