Central retinal artery occlusion

What it is

Central retinal artery occlusion is blockage to the central retinal artery with an embolus from the carotid or the heart. It is one cause of acute visual loss.

Put in one line, any artery on the body gets blocked, and emboli should be one of the major causes; in the eye that artery is the central retinal artery, and what it takes is a severe monocular loss of vision.

Causes and risk

Risk factors are HTN, DM, smoking and hyperlipidaemia. GCA must never be missed.

Set out as an etiology the causes are three.

• Emboli from the carotid arteries or the heart, for example arrhythmia, endocarditis or valvular disease.
• Thrombus.
• Temporal arteritis.

So the heart is not one source but several, and naming the arrhythmia, the endocarditis or the valve is usually what is asked for. And the temporal arteritis entry carries the same weight as the line NEVER MISS GCA above it - it is written among the causes and not only beside them.