IMAGES IN MEDICINE
Branch retinal artery occlusion during coronary angiography
Departments of Cardiology and Ophthalmology, Central Middlesex Hospital, London, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr M D O’Neill
Department of Cardiology, Central Middlesex Hospital, Acton Lane, Park Royal, London NW10 7NS, UK; mdconeill@btinternet.com
Keywords: angiography; embolism; infarction; retina
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A 61 year old woman with asymptomatic aortic stenosis underwent elective left and right heart catheterisation for preoperative haemodynamic and angiographic assessment. Prior transthoracic echocardiogram had shown a peak pressure gradient across the aortic valve of 80 mm Hg. Transoesophageal echocardiography confirmed the presence of a bicuspid aortic valve with mild calcification. The left and right coronary arteries were angiographically normal. Repeated attempts at crossing the aortic valve with a conventional 6 French gauge pigtail catheter and subsequently a 6 French gauge Judkins right coronary artery catheter were unsuccessful.
During the procedure, the patient noted the abrupt onset of a left central scotoma that prompted referral for ophthalmological assessment. On examination the left visual acuity was reduced to 6/60. Fundal examination showed central retinal pallor (fig 1A
) corresponding to the field defect with two white, non-refractile emboli in the branch retinal artery (fig 1B). This appearance is consistent
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
-
Ophthalmology
-
Clinical diagnostic tests
-
Radiology (diagnostics)
-
Radiology
-
Drugs: cardiovascular system
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
