Purtscher-like retinopathy after prostate surgery

To describe a case of Purtscher-like retinopathy after uncomplicated radical prostatectomy.

Observational case report.

Purtscher retinopathy is named after the Austrian ophthalmologist Othmar Purtscher (1852-1927) who first fully described the syndrome of "traumatic retinal angiopathy" in 1912 as patches of retinal whitening, retinal hemorrhages, and disk edema after compression injury to the head. Since that time, similar findings, often called Purtscher-like retinopathy, have been described in association with a number of conditions, including, among others, acute pancreatitis, chest compression injury, childbirth, and fat embolism syndrome, after long-bone fracture or surgery.

The occurrence of Purtscher-like changes after nonorthopedic surgery seems, however, to be rare. The authors describe a single case of Purtscher-like retinopathy after uncomplicated radical prostatectomy.