Monocular blindness after penetrating trauma to the carotid artery

Near-total or total blindness caused by chronic ocular ischemia is a well-recognized complication of severe atherosclerotic occlusive disease of the carotid artery (CA) but has not been previously reported in the English-language literature as a sequela of an occlusive CA injury. This report describes a patient who sustained a gunshot wound to the neck, which injured the ipsilateral internal CA, external CA, and vertebral artery. The location of the injuries precluded arterial repair. The patient was neurologically intact after operative exploration. Twenty months after the injury a marked loss of vision in the ipsilateral eye was detected. Chronic ocular ischemia was diagnosed from clinical findings and ophthalmoscopic examination results. Knowledge that chronic ocular ischemia and blindness can occur after an occlusive CA injury supports the use of primary arterial repair for all CA injuries. In those instances in which repair is not technically possible, frequent ophthalmoscopic examinations and testing of visual acuity should be used postoperatively to diagnose ocular ischemia; thus treatment to prevent the loss of sight can be carried out.