Media Type: Textbook

Synopsis: The authors detail the vascular anatomy and physiology of the eye, and evaluate the latest technologies available for assessing the ocular blood flow status of patients. The book demonstrates how vascular patterns of the eye may point to various disease states. The authors include case reports to illustrate the use of new technologies. The text includes over 400 illustrations with almost all in full color. This is a good reference text for clinicians with an interest in treating ocular disorders that have a vascular basis.

Target Audience: Comprehensive ophthalmologists, glaucoma specialists, retina specialists.

Review: Interest in measuring blood flow to the eye and its utility in diagnosing and managing disease has waxed and waned over the years. Certainly, diabetic retinopathy, ocular ischemic syndrome and retinal vein occlusions have a vascular basis. However, the authors focus not only on these disease entities, but on the vascular basis of age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma as well.

The first section of the book describes the anatomy of the vasculature leading to and within the orbit. The authors continue to illustrate in detail the various vascular beds and patterns of the optic nerve and globe. This section is filled with detailed drawing and histological slides that are impressive in their detail.

In the next section, the authors describe various types of blood flow measurement technology ranging for the early and primitive to the recent and experimental. The physics and physiologic rationale behind each test are discussed. This represents as comprehensive a review of the measurement of ocular blood flow as one is likely to find anywhere.

Section three of the text is a collection of case reports where ocular blood flow measurement played a role in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.

The final section contemplates the future of ocular vascular imaging and addresses emerging technologies such as OCT with Doppler technology and retinal oxygen saturation measurements.

This book represents an exhaustive review of ocular blood flow and the imaging modalities used to measure it. The anatomy section of the book is of greatest interest to the casual reader and the illustrations are quite good. The authors spend the largest part of the text describing and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of diagnostic testing. The case reports are included to show the utility of the measurements that the authors review. While a very well thought-out and executed review, most of the diagnostic tests described are not widely available making this book mostly of intellectual interest. This is a good reference text for an ophthalmic imaging laboratory or academic department.