نبذة مختصرة : The choroid's vasculature is the major supplier of oxygen and nutrients to the outer retina.[1] Abnormal choroidal blood volume or impairment of oxygen flow from the choroid to the retina, or both, may result in photoreceptor dysfunction and death.[2] Most ocular blood flow is accounted for by the choriocapillaris.[3] Choroidal blood flow, which has one of the highest rates of blood flow in the body, may also cool and warm the retina.[3] Imaging the choroid with conventional commercial spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) has proven difficult, due to weak signal transmission beyond the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). However, the introduction of enhanced depth imaging (EDI)-OCT has provided a new means of assessing the choroid with commercially available SD-OCTs. EDI-OCT is a simple, noninvasive technique that provides in vivo evaluation of the choroid with high repeatability.[4] Choroidal thickness (CT) measurement may be influenced by many physiologic factors, including aging, refractive status, axial length, and several pathological diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, and central serous retinopathy.[5,6] Previous studies have also reported that measurements of CT have been decreased after caffeine intake and topical mydriatics.[7,8,9] Physical exercise increases both systemic arterial blood pressure (BP) and blood flow, as well as decreases intraocular pressure (IOP).[10,11] Previous studies have reported that, due to the presence of autoregulative mechanisms, blood flow in retinal circulation remains constant during exercise.[12,13] However, since some controversy accompanies the presence of autoregulative mechanisms in choroidal circulation,[14,15] we considered that CT may be influenced by physical exercise. In light of growing interest in research of choroidal structures, in this study we aimed to evaluate the acute effect of dynamic exercise on CT, as measured by EDI-OCT in healthy patients.
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