MRI of blood perfusion for ischemic retinal diseases

Retinal ischemia plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) — two of the most common sight-threatening diseases in the developed world. Treatments for these conditions are limited, and there is significant interest in developing methods for increasing blood flow so as to reduce damage due to ischemia and inhibit disease progression.

This project aims to quantify blood perfusion in the retina/choroid complex of healthy and ischemic eyes, using arterial spin-labelling MRI technique. This would serve as the foundation for our overall goal to investigate optical and pharmacological methods of increasing blood flow to delay or prevent the loss of visual function in ischemic diseases, such as AMD and DR.