Patent foramen ovale-induced retinal artery occlusion: Evidence for in situ Thromobosis.

BACKGROUND

To report one young man suffered from retinal artery occlusion (RAO) due to patent foramen ovale (PFO).

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess the mechanism for RAO in a patient with a PFO.

METHOD: A 35-year-old male who developed RAO was studied. He received transoesophageal echocardiography and a right-to-left shunt across of a PFO was found. Then, the patient was scheduled for percutaneous PFO closure. An optical coherence tomography (OCT) catheter was positioned into the PFO tunnel and the microstructure of PFO was observed. We found that there were several white thrombi in the tunnel; the PFO was successfully closed. At 10-month follow-up, the patient recovered well and had no new retinal artery occlusion or stroke.

CONCLUSIONS

PFO was the site of thrombus formation in our case of RAO as confirmed by OCT. PFO should be considered in young patients diagnosed with RAO with no other risk factors.