Purtscher-Like Retinopathy: Optical Coherence Tomography and Visual Field Findings

Abstract

A 30-year-old male presented with decreased vision in the right eye after a recent hospitalization for acute pancreatitis. On presentation, his visual acuity was 20/100 right eye (OD) and 20/20 left eye (OS). The funduscopic examination findings were consistent with Purtscher-like retinopathy (PLR). Cirrus HD-OCT (Spectral Domain Technology, Zeiss) of the right eye showed retinal nerve fiber layer swelling and significant subretinal fluid. Humphrey visual field (Central 24-2) revealed generalized defect on the right and inferior nasal step on the left. During the next 6 months, the patient had improvement in visual acuity (20/30 OD and 20/20 OS) and normalization of optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings. However, the visual field (VF) worsened bilaterally suggesting that the injuries induced by micro-infarctions at the level of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) were not reversible. To our knowledge, there have been no reports in the literature that compare high-resolution OCT and VF findings in patients with PLR.