eye disorders
Central Retinal Artery Occlusion and Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion
Symptoms and Signs
Retinal artery occlusion causes sudden, painless, severe vision loss or visual field defect, usually unilaterally. The pupil may respond poorly to direct light but constricts briskly when the other eye is illuminated (relative afferent pupillary defect). In acute cases, funduscopy shows a pale, opaque fundus with a red fovea (cherry-red spot). Typically, the arteries are attenuated and may even appear bloodless. An embolus (eg, a cholesterol embolus, called a Hollenhorst plaque) is sometimes visible. If a major branch is occluded rather than the entire artery, fundus abnormalities and vision loss are limited to that sector of the retina. Patients who have giant cell arteritis are 55 or older and may have a headache, a tender and palpable temporal artery, jaw claudication, fatigue, or a combination. 