Fluorescein angiography. Demonstration of flow pattern of anterior ciliary arteries

E. D. Talusan and B. Schwartz

With fluorescein angiography of the episcleral region at two frames per second, the wide, tortuous vessels perforating the sclera near the limbus were shown to first fill with fluorescein at an average of 19 s after intravenous injection of fluorescein. These perforating vessels should be called the anterior ciliary arteries because they are the first vessels to fill with fluorescein, fill at the same time the iris fills, give out branches, have higher pressure compared with veins, and show pulsations when the pressure is applied to them. In addition in most cases, distinctly different veins that fill laminarly or fully were seen. The first filling with fluorescein occurred at the scleral perforation point and proceeded posteriorly toward the recti muscles. This finding is in contrast to the accepted concept that the anterior ciliary arteries, as the continuation of the muscular arteries, as the continuation of the muscular arteries, fill from the region of the recti muscles. No significant differences were observed in the fluorescein angiographic patterns of the episcleral vessels between normal eyes, ocular hypertensive eyes, and eyes with primary open angle glaucomas.