Transient visual disturbance during cardiac catheterization with angiography

The occurrence of visual disturbances following cardiac catheterization with angiographies was studied in a prospective study of 2,006 consecutive adult patients. The overall incidence of visual disturbances was 1.0% and of complete blindness 0.2%. Women had higher incidence than men (2.0 versus 0.6%, p less than 0.01) and patients with a history of angina pectoris with normal coronary arteries had higher incidence than those with coronary artery stenosis (3.7 versus 0.8%, p less than 0.02). Thirteen of twenty patients also had signs of mental confusion. An abnormal electroencephalogram was found in 8 of 13 patients studied. Other neurological findings were observed in one patient only. All patients had complete recovery within 24 hours. Thus, the incidence of visual disturbances is found to be higher than earlier reported, but the visual loss is transient with a benign course.