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Michael Tittl, MD; Elzbieta Polska, MD; Karl Kircher, MD; Andreas Kruger, MD; Noemi Maar, MD; Michael Stur, MD; Leopold Schmetterer, PhD

Arch Ophthalmol. 2003;121:975-978.

Objective  To determine regional pulsatile choroidal blood flow using laser interferometry in patients with active central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).

Method  The study compared an equally sized age-, sex-, and refractive error–matched control group of healthy volunteers obtained from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology with 18 consecutive patients who had newly diagnosed active, unilateral CSC obtained from the University of Vienna Eye Clinic, Vienna, Austria.

Main Outcome Measures  Regional fundus pulsation amplitude as assessed using laser interferometry.

Results  The median age of the patients was 40 years; the male-female ratio was 16:2. Foveal fundus pulsation amplitude was significantly higher in eyes with CSC (mean [SD], 5.5 [1.7] µm) than in the eyes of the control subjects (4.1 [1.1] µm; P = .005). In addition, eyes with CSC had a significantly higher variability in fundus pulsation amplitude (mean [SD], 48% [20%]) assessed at different fundus locations around the leak than the controls did (20% [9%]; P<.001).

Conclusions  To our knowledge, this is the first study that measures topical fundus pulsations in patients who have active, unilateral CSC. These data indicate a generally increased foveal pulsatile choroidal blood flow and an abnormal distribution of fundus pulsation amplitude in the area close to the leak. Whether these findings reinforce the concept that choroidal perfusion abnormalities play a role in the pathogenesis of CSC remains to be established.

From the Departments of Ophthalmology and Optometry (Drs Tittl, Kircher, Kruger, Maar, and Stur) and Clinical Pharmacology (Drs Polska and Schmetterer), and the Institute of Medical Physics (Dr Schmetterer), University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.

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