Retinal oximetry in patients with ischaemic retinal diseases

The retinal oximeter is a new tool for non-invasive measurement of retinal oxygen saturation in humans. Several studies have investigated the associations between retinal oxygen saturation and retinal diseases. In the present systematic review, we examine whether there are associations between retinal oxygen saturation and retinal ischaemic diseases. We used PubMed and Embase to search for retinal oxygen saturation and retinal ischaemic diseases. Three separate searches identified a total of 79 publications. After two levels of manual screening, 10 studies were included: six about diabetic retinopathy (DR) and four about retinal vein occlusion. No studies about retinal artery occlusion were included. In diabetes, all studies found that increases in retinal venous oxygen saturation (rvSatO(2)) were associated with present as well as increasing levels of DR. Four of six studies also found increased retinal arterial oxygen saturation (raSatO(2)) in patients with DR. In patients with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), all studies found that rvSatO(2) was reduced, but raSatO(2) remained unchanged. Branch retinal vein occlusion was not associated with changes in retinal oxygen saturation, but this was based on a single study. In conclusion, DR is associated with increased rvSatO(2) and might also be related to increased raSatO(2). Central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) is correlated with increased rvSatO(2) but unrelated to raSatO(2). Prospective studies are needed to expand these findings. These would tell whether retinal oximetry could be a potential tool for screening or a biomarker of treatment outcome in patients with ischaemic retinal diseases.