PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Soares, Andreia
AU  - Gomes, Nuno L
AU  - Mendonça, Luís
AU  - Ferreira, Carla
TI  - The efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of central retinal artery occlusion
AID  - 10.1136/bcr-2017-220113
DP  - 2017 May 12
TA  - BMJ Case Reports
PG  - bcr-2017-220113
VI  - 2017
4099  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2017/bcr-2017-220113.short
4100  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2017/bcr-2017-220113.full
AB  - Central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) is an ophthalmological emergency. Various treatment modalities have been tried, but none have shown to alter natural history of the disease. Hyperoxia can restore retinal oxygenation, and favourable results were obtained with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). We report two patients with sudden visual loss due to CRAO treated with HBOT. Case 1: a 61-year-old female, presented with CRAO in her left eye(OS). She was submitted to eight sessions of HBOT(2.4atmosphere absolute (ATA)). BCVA(Best corrected visual acuity) improved from counting fingers (CF) to 1.0 and fluorescein angiography (FA) showed a normalisation. Vascular study showed a value of 8.8% for HbA1c and ventricular extrasystoles. Case 2: a 69-year-old male presented with CRAO in his OS. Nine sessions of HBOT(2.4 ATA) were performed. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA)improved from CF to 0.8 and the FA was normalised. Vascular study revealed an atheromatous carotid disease, and cardiac pathology. HBOT seems to be beneficial on the recovery of vision following CRAO.