Search

We report a case of a 28-year-old otherwise healthy female patient who presented with blurred vision in her right eye related to multiple branch retinal artery occlusions confirmed by fluorescein angiography. Investigation revealed positive antinuclear antibodies and an interatrial septal aneurysm on transthoracic echocardiography. The patient was treated with oral prednisolone and aspirin. Two months after her initial presentation, she developed hearing loss and tinnitus. Ophthalmological examination revealed temporal inferior and nasal inferior branch retinal artery occlusions in the left eye. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed multifocal T2 hyperintense lesions in cortical and subcortical areas as well as the corpus callosum consistent with Susac’s syndrome. The diagnosis of Susac’s syndrome should be kept in mind in young patients presenting with multiple or recurrent retinal artery occlusions even in the absence of associated systemic symptoms to not delay appropriate management.

The purpose of this study was to determine final diagnosis of patients referred with a diagnosis of neuroretinitis. A retrospective study of 40 patients with optic disc oedema with macular star (ODOMS) referred with a diagnosis of neuroretinitis was conducted. The final diagnosis was neuroretinitis in 26 patients (65%), with most of these patients (96.1%) having unilateral involvement. Main underlying aetiologies included cat scratch disease (30.8%), rickettsiosis (19.2%), and idiopathic neuroretinitis (23.1%). The remaining 14 patients (35%) had ODOMS that had been mistaken for neuroretinitis. Of these patients, 42.8% were found to have a previously unknown malignant systemic hypertension in association with bilateral ODOMS. Neuroretinitis, usually unilateral, should be differentiated from other causes of unilateral or most often bilateral ODOMS that may masquerade as neuroretinitis, mainly malignant systemic hypertension. This is essential to avoid inappropriate work-up and management and subsequent potential visual or systemic morbidity.