Idiopathic central retinal artery occlusion. Case report and presentation of a general guide to therapy.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report an unusual case of idiopathic central retinal artery occlusion in a young man who experienced remarkable recovery of vision and to present a comprehensive therapeutic approach to this clinical entity. Report of Case A 20-year-old Caucasian male, always in good general health, with no previous ocular or neurologic symptoms, experienced sudden loss of vision in the right eye while calmly walking. When first examined approximately 80 minutes later, the patient had no light perception in the right eye except in the temporal periphery where he could detect finger motions. He presented the classical picture of central retinal artery occlusion, including a cherry-red macula with surrounding intense edema. There was apparent stasis in all arterioles. The veins were smaller than those of the left eye, and there was intermittent tumbling of red cell clumps into the physiologic cup as if they were being