Retinal detachment and proliferative vitreoretinopathy: ophthalmic artery blood velocities, intraocular pressure, and endothelin-1.

Purpose: To analyze if endothelin-1 (ET-1) may have an effect on ophthalmic artery (OA) blood flow velocities and intraocular pressure (IOP) in retinal detachment (RD).

Methods: Using radioimmunoassay, immunoreactive (IR) ET-1 levels were tested in both plasma and subretinal fluid (SRF) specimens from patients with RD, while only plasma specimens from normal (healthy) subjects were tested. OA Doppler sonography parameters and IOP were measured in eyes with RD, with and without proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), their respective healthy fellow eyes, and normal eyes.

Results: RD eyes had lower OA peak systolic velocity (PSV) and end diastolic velocity (EDV), higher resistivity index (RI), lower IOP, and higher plasma IR ET-1 levels than normal eyes (P < 0.0001). Eyes with PVR had lower OA PSV and EDV, higher RI, lower IOP, higher plasma IR ET-1 levels, and higher SRF IR ET-1 than eyes without PVR (P < 0.0001). A statistically significant linear correlation was found among OA parameters, IOP, and SRF IR ET-1 measurements.

Conclusions: Decreased OA blood flow velocities may explain lower IOP found in RD patients, and ET-1 levels may be responsible for both measurements.