Assessment of Spontaneous Retinal Arterial Pulsations in Acute Central Retinal Vein Occlusions

Abstract EN

Central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) is a common retinal disease.

Recent works mentioned spontaneous retinal arterial pulsations (SRAPs) as a feature of some CRVOs.

This is a retrospective study on patients presenting with CRVO who were followed up for at least 6 months.

The objective was to identify SRAP in the acute phase of the disease and determine their relationship with patients’ characteristics and visual prognosis.

A 10-second infrared film centered on the optic disc was recorded within a month of the onset of symptoms, and SRAPs were detected in two-thirds of the cases.

Patients with SRAP were significantly younger than those without SRAP.

Mean central macular thickness was significantly higher in the absence of SRAP, which was translated into a more severe macular edema; however, this difference faded with time.

BCVA tended to be higher in the presence of SRAP at the 6-month follow-up when adjusted to baseline.

This study demonstrates that SRAPs are a frequent finding, easily detected by infrared fundus video recording, and associated with a younger age and lesser macular edema.