Acute monocular visual loss: time to call the stroke team?

Abstract

A man in his 90s presented with acute monocular loss of vision; the emergency department triage alerted the stroke team. He underwent urgent parallel assessments by the stroke and ophthalmology teams and was diagnosed with central retinal artery occlusion. The ultimate decision was made to manage him conservatively, rather than with intravenous thrombolysis, and his visual function has remained poor. We discuss the current evidence for using intravenous thrombolysis in people with central retinal artery occlusion and use this case to exemplify the practical issues that must be overcome if ongoing randomised clinical trials of central retinal artery occlusion confirm a definite benefit from using intravenous thrombolysis.