Healt Articles healthy trim recipes insurance snacks healthy fast food

Retinal vein occlusion is probably the most common vascular accident in the eye. About 10% of patients having a central retinal vein occlusion in one eye will also develop one in the other eye. Even after the occlusion occurs, some vision remains.
Ophthalmoscopy reveals distended, tortuous veins with massive hemorrhages and edema throughout the retina. The margins of the optic nerve become blurred and the disk swollen. Complete resorption of the hemorrhages and edema may take months or even years. In the older patient, the prognosis for vision is poor. Also, about 25% of patients develop a fibrovascular membrane that seals the aqueous humor outflow channels in the anterior chamber, resulting in a painful neovascular glaucoma in 3 to 6 mo. If the intraocular pressure remains elevated, blindness results in weeks. Treatment is most often attempted with laser photocoagulation, but its effectiveness is still being assessed.
Branch vein occlusion is also seen when a branch of the central retinal vein becomes obstructed, most often the superior temporal branch. The characteristic exudates and hemorrhages are confined to the involved quadrant of the retina, which has an associated visual field defect. Vision is usually unaffected unless the retinal swelling impinges on the macula. A clinical trial has demonstrated that using laser photocoagulation to treat branch vein occlusion helps preserve vision. Fortunately, the development of neovascular glaucoma is much less common in branch vein occlusion.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 4:09 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.