PEDIATRIC CENTRAL RETINAL ARTERY OCCLUSION

Central retinal artery occlusion in children is an extremely rare clinical syndrome, characterized by rapid onset of vision loss in the affected eye, which may become permanent. In most instances there is a discreet etiology uncovered after the onset of the event, with hypercoagulable states and emboli being the most frequent causes, although cases with no apparent cause are also rarely seen. The purpose of this presentation is to review the more frequent reasons for central artery occlusion in children and present a case report of an eight-year-old girl with idiopathic occlusion and poor outcome.

We reviewed the cases of pediatric artery occlusion as detailed in studies published in NLM/PubMed and Web of Science and present a case report.

The surveyed published research papers point to hypercoagulable states and emboli being the most frequent causes, although cases with no apparent cause are also rarely seen. The patient was an eight-year-old girl who presented in the ED of our hospital with acute onset of vision loss in the loss of vision in her left eye. Despite prompt initiation of symptomatic treatment and initial response, the patient failed to improve. Extensive imaging and biochemical tests failed to identify a plausible reason for this presentation.

While considerable progress is being made in the understanding of causes for central retinal artery occlusion in children, there remain instances where the precise underpinning of causes may be impossible at that point in time. The patient should be followed longitudinally to assess whether the occlusion may have been the first manifestation of an otherwise undetected underlying condition.