Measurement and assessment of the ocular circulation

"There have been many new developments recently. On the one hand in the measurement technology itself, and on the other hand, we now know many more parameters of the vascular system that can be assigned to specific disease patterns," explains Dr Sascha Klee. "Today we can measure vessels at the back of the eye and the knowledge about the significance of these measured values is increasing. The idea of the special issue was to show the current state of research and thus encourage more and deeper analyses. After all, we want to bring the latest results to the clinic as quickly as possible and establish them there in order to provide patients with the best possible care" This overall aim is not only for the biostatistician one´s and those of his editorial colleagues but also hits on a main research focus of KL. With its university hospitals in St. Pölten, Krems and Tulln, KL conducts both translational and clinical research in a wide variety of medical fields and thus makes a valuable contribution to the best possible patient care in Lower Austria as well as nationally and internationally.
Functional imaging provides a new view of the vascular system
"We have selected two contributions that deal with modern device technologies. Optical coherence tomography angiography can be used to measure blood flow in the vessels of the eye. A newly developed multicolour video ophthalmoscope allows the measurement of blood absorption. This sophisticated technical advance brings with it an exciting and complex discussion about the previously assumed causes for the change in blood absorption," explains Sascha Klee. He is one of four other editors of the special issue. The composition of the editors strengthens the network of the division and of the KL with research institutions in Illmenau and Aachen in Germany, in Huddersfield in England and in Vienna. 
Diseases of the eye and the role of blood flow
Among the contributions submitted for the special issue, the editors have decided to provide an overview of the different methods used to assess the eye´s blood flow and ocular diseases associated with impaired blood flow in the eye. This part is complemented by a study to identify factors that regulate ocular blood flow using temporary hyperoxia, which means an excess of oxygen. After an intensive review process, the editors also choose papers that focus on certain diseases of the eye: "While the mentioned works describe the importance of selected parameters of ocular circulation for a possible pre-selection and early detection of complaints, we also wanted to specifically address selected eye diseases. One long-term follow-up study deals with the unfortunately relatively widespread damage to the retina in diabetes patients. The other directly disease-related paper analyses possible parameters of ocular circulation as predictors for Behçet's disease, an autoimmune disease of the vascular system. It is particularly exciting that parameters of the ocular circulation can already be conspicuous here, although the disease does not manifest in the eye itself. Thus, the assessment of the ocular circulation does not have to be limited to diseases in the eye itself, but can depict holistic systemic tendencies," the professor sums up.
 

Heitmar R, Link D, Kotliar K, Schmidl D, Klee S. Editorial: Functional assessments of the ocular circulation. Frontiers in Medicine. 2023 Jun 8;10. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1222022