Pulsatile ocular blood flow changes after panretinal photocoagulation treatment in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Background/aim: To prospectively assess the effects of panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) treatment on pulsatile ocular blood flow (POBF) in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDRP). Materials and methods: The study included 40 eyes with PDRP in 27 patients. The PRP treatments were completed in 3 sessions with 3-week intervals. The intraocular pressure (IOP), pulse amplitude (PA), pulse volume (PV), and POBF changes that arose during the sessions were recorded using a blood flow analyzer. Results: The average age of the patients was 57.37 ± 11.14 years. The pre-PRP basal IOP, PA, PV, and POBF values were 20.44 ± 4.13 mmHg, 4.23 ± 1.73 mmHg, 6.89 ± 2.28 μL, and 21.86 ± 5.83 μL/s, respectively. One month after the completion of the PRP sessions, the values were 18.49 ± 4.44 mmHg, 2.78 ± 1.13 mmHg, 5.27 ± 2.08 μL, and 15.89 ± 5.05 μL/s, respectively, and the differences were significant (P = 0.001, P 0.0001, P 0.0001, and P 0.0001, respectively). Conclusion: PRP treatment reduces the choroidal blood flow and consequently causes significant decreases in IOP, PA, PV, and POBF.