Idiopathic central retinal artery occlusion in a 6-year-old

Spontaneous Late Visual Recovery in Pediatric Central Retinal Artery Occlusion: A Case Report and Literature Review

The authors report a rare case of pediatric central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) and spontaneous late recovery, with associated literature review. A retrospective review of patient medical records and literature search of four relevant databases was conducted. A 7-year-old girl with sudden, painless loss of vision in her right eye was referred to the authors' center where she was found to have a CRAO with hand motion visual acuity. One month later, the patient developed multiple retinal hemorrhages throughout the fundus. Despite undergoing extensive investigations, a cause for her condition was not determined. Seventeen months after the original event, the patient regained a visual acuity of 20/40. A CRAO in the pediatric population is relatively rare and requires extensive investigation into the potential cause. Compared to adult CRAO, presentation in the pediatric age group should warrant a high index of suspicion and extensive work-up to treat any underlying systemic conditions and possibly prevent involvement of the other eye. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2023;60(6):e70-e74.].

Varicella Retinal Vasculopathy: Unilateral Cilioretinal Artery Occlusion Despite Acyclovir Therapy Caught Using Optical Coherence Tomography-Angiography (OCTA)

Varicella zoster is known to be associated with vaso-occlusive pathologies, vasculitis, or optic neuritis, leading to profound visual loss. We report a case where a 13-year-old boy who initially presented to us with on and off diminution of vision in his right eye since 3 days and had normal ocular and OCT angiography findings followed up in 5 days with sudden painless diminution of vision in the same eye since one day this time revealing a pale macular region with rest of the retina being normal. Repeated OCT angiography showed loss of the capillary network around the perifoveal region suggesting cilioretinal artery occlusion.

Idiopathic pediatric retinal artery occlusion

We report a case of branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO) in a healthy young girl. An eight-year-old girl presented with sudden loss of vision in her left eye. She had a pale retina with macular edema consistent with extensive BRAO. A thorough workup was performed to determine any etiologic factor. All test results were within normal limits. Her visual acuity improved from finger counting to 20/40 over two weeks, on immediate treatment with intravenous steroids (methyl prednisolone). This case suggests that BRAO can occur in healthy children without any detectable systemic or ocular disorders and a dramatic improvement may be achieved with prompt treatment with intravenous steroids.