Blood flow in the optic nerve head in patients with primary aldosteronism

PURPOSE: Optic nerve head (ONH) blood flow decrease without changes in intraocular pressure in a possible rat model of retinal ganglion cell loss by systemic administration of aldosterone. To compare the blood flow in the ONH, using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG), in healthy eyes and in eyes with primary aldosteronism (PA). METHODS: The ONH tissue area mean blur rate (MT) was evaluated in this single center, retrospective, cross-sectional study using LSFG. In order to compare the MT between PA patients and normal subjects, mixed-effects models were used, with adjustments made for the mean arterial pressure, disc area, and β-peripapillary atrophy (β-PPA) area. Mixed-effects models were also used to analyze the risk factors affecting the MT. RESULTS: This study evaluated a total of 29 eyes of 17 PA patients and 61 eyes of 61 normal subjects. There was a significantly lower MT in PA patients (10.8 ± 0.4) as compared to the normal subjects (12.3 ± 0.3) (P = 0.004). The MT was significantly lower in PA patients (10.8 ± 0.6) even after adjusting for the potential confounding factors when compared to normal subjects (12.3 ± 0.3) (P = 0.046). Multivariate mixed-effects model analysis demonstrated that the MT was significantly associated with the PA and β-PPA. CONCLUSIONS: There was a significantly lower ONH blood flow in PA patients as compared to normal subjects.