Retinal Phlebitis with Chorioretinal Emboli

Abstract

Emboli to the eye may cause retinal vascular occlusive disease with a wide range of clinicopathologic manifestations including arteriolar occlusion, retinal ischemia and infarction, and retinal neovascularization. Clinical observations of a progressive obliterative arteriolitis in patients with systemic embolic disease have led to the speculation that retinal vasculitis may be a feature of ocular embolic disease. A postmortem examination of the enucleated eyes of two elderly female patients disclosed gross and histopathologic features of retinal periphlebitis associated with many chorioretinal calcific emboli. These patients also had premortem and postmortem manifestations of systemic thromboembolic disease originating from the heart and great vessels. One patient had a progressive decrease in visual acuity, paracentral scotoma, and midperipheral perivascular sheathing. These findings suggest that ocular embolism may sometimes be a factor in the development of retinal phlebitis.