[The differential diagnosis between symptomatic and idiopathic retinal detachments]

The paper presents a synthesis of today's means for differential diagnosis between symptomatic and idiopathic retinal detachment, considering that the retinal detachment remains an ocular emergency, with high invalidity potential. The characteristic difficulties of this diagnosis are also detailed. The different medical attendance of the two types of retinal detachment requires a rigorous differential diagnosis, according the leading part to the ophthalmological examination. There are also illustrated up-to-date diagnosis tests, less invasive and more informative, such as: CT and MRI. The survey highlights the value still relative of the majority of these investigations and the fundamental significance of the histological examination.