General anesthesia significantly decreases arterial retrobulbar blood flow velocity in glaucoma patients.

Case-controlEuropean journal of ophthalmology· Jul 2026

General anesthesia significantly decreases arterial retrobulbar blood flow velocity in glaucoma patients.

Joana Pargana, Koen Willekens, Karel Van Keer … Luís Abegão Pinto

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GlaucomaCase-controlClinical practiceQ2IF 1.5

General anesthesia induction is associated with reduced retrobulbar blood flow velocity in glaucoma patients

General anesthesia significantly decreases arterial retrobulbar blood flow velocity in glaucoma patients.

Joana Pargana … Luís Abegão Pinto

European journal of ophthalmology · Jul 2026 · Q2 in Ophthalmology

Purpose

To investigate the influence of general anesthesia (general anesthesia)-induced systemic hypotension on retrobulbar blood flow and pressure flow-coupling in glaucomatous versus non-glaucomatous eyes.

Methods

Prospective single-center case-control study including glaucoma and non-glaucomatous patients scheduled for ocular surgery under general anesthesia.

n = 37 controls

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Results

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cm/s

eye blood flow speed dropped after anesthesia in glaucoma patients, unlike controls

n = 37 controls

More results

General anesthesia induction caused comparable reductions in systolic blood pressure in both groups ( p < 0.001).

MFV remained stable in controls but decreased significantly in glaucoma patients.

A significant group × time × MAP interaction ( p = 0.009) revealed altered pressure-flow coupling in glaucoma patients.

More results

No differences were observed between primary and secondary glaucoma.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

Glaucomatous eyes demonstrated impaired autoregulatory responses to general anesthesia-induced hypotension, suggesting increased vulnerability to perfusion stress during general anesthesia.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01840215.

General anesthesia significantly decreases arterial retrobulbar blood flow velocity in glaucoma patients.

General anesthesia significantly decreases arterial retrobulbar blood flow velocity in glaucoma patients.

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