Multimodal Imaging Characteristics and Correlation to Outcomes in Patients With Central Retinal Artery Occlusion Presenting to a Large Academic Center

Purpose

To characterize a large modern cohort of patients with central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) by describing presenting features and outcomes relating to manually segmented optical coherence tomography (OCT) features, angiographic reperfusion, and visual recovery.

Design

Retrospective clinical cohort study.

Methods

Patients with CRAO (ICD-10: H34.1) initially presenting to a tertiary referral center between January 2017 and December 2021 were included. Demographics, eye exam findings, fundus photographs, OCT, and fluorescein angiography were analyzed. Main outcome measures included total and inner retinal thickness on macular OCT, reperfusion, visual outcomes, and development of neovascularization.

Results

A total of 145 eyes of 144 patients with mean age at of 69.4 ± 13.6 years were included. The mean time to presentation was 1.6 ± 4.2 days, with 19% examined within 4.5 hours and 26% within 6 hours of vision loss. 19% had cilioretinal artery (CLRA) sparing. Mean initial visual acuity (VA) was 1.68 ± 1.10 Logarithm of the Minimum Angle of Resolution (LogMAR) (CLRA sparing) compared to 2.53 ± 0.58 LogMAR (non-CLRA sparing), P < .001. 32% had elevated inflammatory makers. Out of 47 eyes with final fluorescein angiography, one-third showed some reperfusion. Final vision was 1.40 ± 1.16 LogMAR (CLRA sparing) compared to 2.46 ± 0.81 (non-CLRA sparing), P < .001. A third of patients improved in VA in both groups, 27% of patients gained more than 2 lines of vision in the CLRA-sparing group and 36% in the non-CLRA-sparing group. 17% improved to better than 20/200 in CLRA-sparing and 4% in non-CLRA sparing. Overall, 11% developed neovascularization all in non-CLRA sparing. In a multiple linear regression, VA at presentation was associated with regaining vision of 2 lines or more (OR = 2.603, P = .007). OCT showed progressive thinning over time, reaching lowest measurements at 6 months, and stabilizing thereafter.

Conclusions

In this modern cohort of acute CRAO patients, presentation to a tertiary facility within 12 hours of symptoms was seen in almost half of the patients. Final VA improved in almost a third of the patients, however, vision better than the legal blindness limit was rare (∼5%). Interestingly, a third of patients had some mild elevation of systemic inflammatory markers. Better VA at presentation was associated with visual gain, while baseline OCT values had poor correlation with final outcome.