Ocular blood flow values measured by laser speckle flowgraphy correlate with the postmenstrual age of normal neonates

PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationships between optic nerve head (ONH) blood flow by laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG), and postmenstrual age and body weight in normal neonates. METHODS: During their normal sleep, we studied 24 infants (postmenstrual age, 248–295 days) whose ocular blood flow could be measured three consecutive times. While the subjects slept in the supine position, three mean blur rate (MBR) values of the ONH were obtained: the MBR-A (mean of all values), MBR-V (vessel mean) and MBR-T (tissue mean) in the ONH. With regard to eye diseases, no retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) was observed, and no severe systemic diseases requiring treatment were noted in the subjects. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between the MBR-A, −V, −T and postmenstrual age (days) and body weight (g). RESULTS: Postmenstrual age was significantly correlated with MBR-A (r = 0.64, p = 0.0007), MBR-V (r = 0.62, p = 0.0012) and MBR-T (r = 0.62, p = 0.0012). However, the body weight was not correlated with the MBR (MBR-A: r = 0.37, p = 0.07, MBR-V: r = 0.31, p = 0.14, MBR-T: r = 0.38, p = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Our results clarified that the values of ocular blood flow measured by LSFG correlate with the postmenstrual age of normal neonates.