Year: 1971
Type: article
Abstract: Duke-Elder (1926) rightly pointed out that "There is no question in the whole of ophthal- mology more important and fundamental than the vascular pressures of the eye".The ophthalmic artery pressure (OAP) has been measured almost invariably by ophthalmo- dynamometry or other methods based on the same principle, and the results obtained have shown very wide variation (Duke-Elder, 1926; Koch, 1945).Because this has led to much confusion on the subject, and more reliable estimates of the OAP are desirable, direct cannulation of the ophthalmic artery has been used to measure the OAP in rhesus monkeys.The OAP was correlated with the systemic arterial blood pressure (BP) recorded from the aorta, in order to determine whether a significantly close relationship existed between the two arterial pressures, and whether the OAP could be deduced from the BP.In fact, a very close correlation was found, indicating that it is possible to deduce the OAP from the BP by the formula computed in the present study.The effects of intracranial hypertension on the ophthalmic arterial and venous pressures, and their significance, have been the subject of considerable controversy, especially the role played by raised ophthalmic venous pressure in the pathogenesis of oedema of the optic disc and various types of haemorrhage (pre-retinal, retinal, from the optic nerve and its sheath, and orbital).The aim of the present study was to investigate the following:(i) The normal ophthalmic arterial and venous pressures.(ii) The correlation of the OAP with the BP, and of the ophthalmic vein pressure (OVP) with the pressure in the intracranial venous sinuses.(iii) The effects of acute intracranial hypertension on these pressures.(iv) In intracranial hypertension, the correlation of change in the ophthalmic arterial and venous pressures with changes in the systemic arterial and venous pressures and the pressure in the intracranial venous sinuses.(v) The effects of acute intracranial hypertension on the fundus of the eye.In this study, the various pressures were recorded in rhesus monkeys after direct cannulation of the ophthalmic artery, superior ophthalmic vein, abdominal aorta (via the femoral artery), internal jugular vein, and superior sagittal sinus.This investigation formed a part of studies on the pathogenesis of oedema of the optic disc in cases of raised intracranial pressure (Hayreh, I964a, I965a, I968).
Source: British Journal of Ophthalmology
Authors: S S Hayreh, J Edwards
Institutions: University of London, University of Edinburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Ophthalmology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2144022880