Ocular blood flow responses to pathology of the carotid and cerebral circulations.

The eye and the brain are hemodynamically linked by the carotid artery and the autonomic nervous system. A number of case reports are presented that show hemodynamic increase or decrease in the eye secondary to independently proven pathological changes in the carotid, the brain, sympathetic nervous system, and the heart.

Estimation of pulsatile ocular blood flow from intraocular pressure.

A relationship has been derived between intraocular pressure and pulsatile blood flow in the eye. Measurements of intraocular pressure show a time variation that is associated with the pulsatile component of arterial pressure. Experimental results provide a means of transforming intraocular pressure changes into ocular volume changes.

Ocular blood flow changes with increased vascular resistance external and internal to the eye.

Precise instantaneous digital measurement of intraocular pressure done non-invasively is a clinical window to the vascular physiology of the eye. This technique has been used to study the pulse amplitude/intraocular pressure curve in 2 distinct clinical entities. The first is amaurosis fugax before and after carotid endarterectomy.