Abstract
Purpose :
Purpose. To investigate retinal artery occlusion (RAO) risk factors.
Methods :
Patients recorded in the department between august 2010 and september 2016 with an acute RAO. All patients underwent best corrected visual acuity, fundus examination and fluorescein angiography during the acute phase of the occlusion. Thrombolysis was performed in neurology in case of visual symptoms
Results :
Sixty-two patients with a mean age of 71.5 years were included in the analysis, with a mean follow-up of 27 months. A central retinal artery occlusion was observed in 46 patients, a branch retinal artery occlusion was observed in 11 patients and a cilioretinal artery occlusion was observed in 5 patients. Most frequent risk factor identified were high blood pressure (61 %) and dyslipidemia (47%). Seventeen patients had history of heart disease before RAO (27%), eight patients had internal carotid artery stenosis at the time of RAO (13%), and two patients had internal carotid artery dissection at the time of RAO (3.2%). A significant cardiovascular event occurred in 21 patients after the RAO diagnosis between the initial diagnosis of RAO and the end of the study in september 2016. Eight patients underwent intravenous thrombolysis treatment.
Conclusions :
RAO is a risk factor for cardiovascular event. At the time of RAO cardiovascular investigations are mandatory.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.