Relationship between the Direction of Ophthalmic Artery Blood Flow and Ocular Microcirculation before and after Carotid Artery Stenting

Figure 2

(a) Usually, the ophthalmic artery receives blood flow from the internal carotid artery, which means that the ophthalmic artery is visualized antegradely from the bifurcation from the internal carotid artery (red arrows). (b) However, when advanced stenotic lesions are seen in the internal carotid artery, the ophthalmic artery instead receives blood flow from the external carotid artery; thus, it is visualized retrogradely from the peripheral side via the multiple anastomoses (arrow heads) with the external carotid artery (blue arrows). , ophthalmic artery; ICA, internal carotid artery; ECA, external carotid artery; STA, superficial temporal artery; MA, maxillary artery; FA, facial artery; MMA, middle meningeal artery.

(a)

(b)