Amaurosis fugax - delay between symptoms and surgery by specialty

To describe the time course of management of patients with amaurosis fugax and analyze differences in management by different specialties.

Patients diagnosed with amaurosis fugax and subjected to carotid ultrasound in 2004-2010 at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden (n=302) were included in this retrospective cohort study, and data were collected from medical records.

The prevalence of significant carotid stenosis was 18.9%, and 14.2% were subjected to carotid endarterectomy. A trend of longer delay for surgery was noted for patients first consulting a general practitioner (P=0.069) as compared to hospital-based specialties. For 46.3% of the patients, an ophthalmologist was their first medical contact. No significant difference in time interval to endarterectomy was seen between ophthalmologists and neurologists/internists. Only 31.8% of the patients with significant carotid stenosis had carotid endarterectomy within 2 weeks from the debut of symptoms, and this proportion was smaller for patients residing outside the Gothenburg city area (P=0.038).

Initially consulting an ophthalmologist does not delay the time to ultrasound or carotid endarterectomy. The overall time from symptoms to surgery is longer than recommended for a majority of the patients, especially for patients from rural areas and for patients initially consulting a general practitioner.