ObjectiveTo observe the effects of carotid artery stenting (CAS) on ophthalmic artery blood flow in patients with ischemic ophthalmopathy (IOP).MethodsA prospective case-control study. Sixty IOP patients (60 eyes) who met inclusive criteria for CAS were enrolled in this study. There was 50% stenosis of internal carotid artery on one side at least confirmed by color doppler flow imaging (CDFI). Among 60 eyes, there were 3 eyes with central retinal artery occlusion, 15 eyes with retinal vein occlusion, 37 eyes with ischemic optic neuropathy, 5 eyes with ocular ischemia syndrome. The patients were randomly divided into CAS group (32 eyes of 32 patients) and medicine therapy group (28 eyes of 28 patients). The difference of age (t=1.804) and sex (χ2=1.975) between two groups was not significant (P＞0.05). The examinations of fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), CDFI and digital substraction angiography (DSA) were performed before, 1 week and 6 months after treatment. The following parameters were recorded: arm-retinal circulation time (A-Rct), peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), and resistance index (RI) in the ophthalmic artery (OA) and central retinal artery (CRA), and the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA).ResultsThere was no significant differences in A-Rct (t=1.354) and BCVA (t=0.376) between the two groups before treatment (P＞0.05). Also, there was no significant differences in PSV (t=−0.294, −2.446), EDV (t=0.141, −0.305), and RI (t=−0.222, −0.694) of OA and CRA between the two groups before treatment before treatment (P＞0.05). Compared with the medicine therapy group, the lower A-Rct was found in the CAS group at different time points after the treatment. The difference was significant on 1 week after treatment (t=−3.205, P＜0.05), but not on 6 months after treatment (t=1.345, P＞0.05). The BCVA of eyes in the two groups were increasing with the extending of time of therapy. Compared with the medicine therapy group, the better BCVA was found in the CAS group at different time points after the treatment (t=0.800, 1.527; P＜0.05). Compared with the medicine therapy group, the higher PSV, EDV and lower RI of OA and CRA were found in the CAS group at different time points after the treatment. (P＜0.05).ConclusionCompared with conventional medicine therapy, CAS shows earlier effects in improving ocular hemodynamics for IOP patients with carotid artery stenosis, which benefits visual function improvement of the patients.