Combined bilateral ophthalmic artery occlusion & central retinal vein occlusion from presumed giant cell arteritis

To report on a severe case of presumed giant cell arteritis (GCA) presenting with partial and complete ophthalmic artery occlusion along with bilateral central retinal vein occlusions (CRVO).

A 73-year-old female presented with bilateral complete vision loss of sudden onset. The patient also experienced a mild frontal headache prior to onset of vision loss. Fundus examination revealed bilateral central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) and CRVO. Subsequent fluorescein angiography indicated partial right ophthalmic artery occlusion and complete left ophthalmic artery occlusion. Acute phase reactants were elevated. The patient was clinically diagnosed with GCA and intravenous (IV) steroids were initiated. Four days later, a temporal artery biopsy (TAB) was performed and resulted as negative for granulomatous inflammation. The patient did not regain vision and remained with no light perception (NLP) in both eyes.

and Importance: This case highlights the discrepancy between clinical diagnosis and pathologic tissue diagnosis in a patient that presented with such extensive ocular vasculitic disease. Such extensive bilateral disease has not been reported. In addition, there are few studies regarding the effect of pulse-dosed IV steroids on TAB results. This case report suggests that the gradual histologic changes that occur over one or two weeks while on oral steroids may occur over three to four days while on high dose IV steroids, necessitating early biopsy.