Central Retinal Artery Occlusion
Blockage of the main artery that supplies blood to the tissue at the back of the eye, responsible for sight.
Central Retinal Artery Occlusion occurs due to a number of reasons. An individual will go suddenly, painlessly blind in the affected eye.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is considered in patients who are referred within 24 hours of onset of symptoms on a case by case basis.
There are a number of case series that suggest HBOT may help in the treatment of CRAO including Krasnov et al (1981), Zhang & Cao (1986) and Desola (1987).There are a number of case series that suggest HBOT may help in the treatment of CRAO including Krasnov et al (1981), Zhang & Cao (1986) and Desola (1987).
Miyake et al (1987) was one of the earliest larger prospective trials.
Unfortunately, the results were not positive. However, these treatments were not delivered within 24 hours in most cases and individuals were not controlled for presence/absence of a cilioretinal artery or transient occlusions.
More recently Beiran et al (2001) in a retrospective controlled trial showed improvement in individuals with CRAO treated within 12 hours with HBO. Similar outcomes were reported by Menzel et al in 2012.
HBOT is considered in patients who are referred within 24 hours of onset of symptoms on a case by case basis.
Further information regarding the Referral and Funding process can be found here.
References
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Indications (2014)
Lindell K, Weaver MD EditorsUndersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society 13th Edition 2014 :P113-138
Beiran (2001)
Beiran I, Goldenbrug I et al “Early hyperbaric oxygen therapy for retinal artery occlusion” Eur J Opthalmol
Desola (1987)
Desola J “Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in acute occlusive retinopathies” Proceedings of the first Swiss symposium on Hyperbaric Medicine. Foundation for Hyperbaric Medicine. Basel; 1987. P333
Krasnov (1981)
Krasnov MM, Kharlap SI et al “Hyperbaric oxygen in the treatment of vascular disease of the retina” In: Yefunny SN editor. Abstracts of the seventh international congress on hyperbaric medicine. Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences;
Menzal (2012)
Menzel-Severing J, Siekmann U et al “Early hyperbaric oxygen treatment for non-arteritic central retinal artery obstruction” AM J Opthalmol 2012;153:454-459
Miyake (1987)
Miyake Y, Horiguchi M et al Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in 72 eyes with retinal arterial occlusion. In: The 9th International Symposium on Underwater and Hyperbaric Physiology. Bethesda, MD. Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society
Zhang (1986)
Zhang XZ, Cao JQ “Observations on therapeutic results in 80 cases of central serous retinopathy treated with hyperbaric oxygenation” Presented at the 5th Chinese conference on hyperbaric medicine, Furzhow, China. 1986 Sept 26-29