Ultrasonic Doppler measurements of blood flow velocity of rabbit retinal vessels with high-frequency angled needle transducer

This paper presents a systematic ultrasonic Doppler measurement of retinal blood flow in vivo. In the method, a needle transducer with a beveled tip of 45° was inserted into the vitreous cavity to access retinal vessels in the rabbit eye. A directional high-frequency (HF) pulsed-wave (PW) Doppler system was used to measure the blood flow velocity from different locations of rabbit retina vessels. The results indicate that the ultrasonic Doppler measurements of retinal blood speed were repeatable and reliable. This measurement would be useful to investigate retinal vein occlusion and to monitor blood speed of retinal vessels during/after surgery.