Abstract
To the Editor:— Physicians and patients could benefit from ophthalmoscopy in cases of possible fat embolism. Evarts' discussion of the management of this condition (194: 899, 1965) omitted the diagnostically useful retinopathy of Purtscher, or traumatic retinal angiopathy. Whitish gray opaque patches in the retina are seen near blood vessels, sometimes accompanied by hemorrhages. These are observed two to four days after bone injuries, or postoperatively in cases in which there has been much handling of fat tissues. This retinopathy was described by Jacobi in 1868, later studied by the Austrian ophthalmologist Purtscher in 1910. Size of lesions and degrees of visual impairment vary; transient small field defects may occur, but optic-nerve atrophy is not rare. The Viennese Urbanek (1934) correlated the clinical picture with histologically demonstrated fat emboli in retinal vessels, confirmed by Walsh in 1947.
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