Ophthalmic artery flow reversal and pressure reducing carotid stenosis

The purpose of the carotid artery examination is to predict whether therapy will provide benefit to the patient. Doppler detection of OAr can be a primary care screening method for pressure reducing carotid obstruction with high specificity that might discover some of the 1% of people who have pressure reducing carotid stenosis. These people might benefit from anti-atherosclerotic medical therapy in primary care. With 6 months of medical treatment, OAr might normalize to forward flow indicating improved cerebral perfusion pressure. In addition, 2% of people have carotid occlusion. These people might be at risk for stroke during systemic hypotension. They might be spared cerebral dysfunction by more careful BP control in primary care or during surgery.