Assessment of blood flow velocities in the ophthalmic arteries by transcranial Doppler sonography in osteopetrosis

Osteopetrosis is a rare congenital disorder of bone resorption, which causes generalized hyperostosis. One of its many complications involves the skull base and progressive encroachment of the optic nerves within their canals, resulting in optic atrophy and blindness. Management of patients with deteriorating vision may include surgical decompression of the optic canals; their selection requires careful assessment by radiology, computed tomography, visual evoked potentials, electroretinography and possibly hæmodynamic studies of the ophthalmic arteries. Postoperative changes can create difficulty in the interpretation of follow-up radiological investigations. In this study, transcranial Doppler sonography was used to assess the blood flow velocities in the ophthalmic arteries non-invasively. Pre- and postoperative studies of the Doppler parameters were done for each ophthalmic artery in a 5-month-old boy under standard physiological conditions. He presented with almost complete blindness and subsequently showed a good outcome following surgical intervention.