Central retinal arterial occlusion in a patient with pyoderma gangrenosum

ABSTRACT

A 74-year-old male presented to us with a history of vision loss for 36 hours in the right eye (RE). The RE had a visual acuity of hand movements. The fundus revealed a pale retina, cattle tracking in the retinal vessels, and a cherry-red spot at the macula. The patient was a known case of pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) and had received intravenous methylprednisolone and cyclophosphamide at the onset of visual symptoms. An emergency anterior chamber paracentesis was performed following unsuccessful attempts of ocular massage. The patient improved to 6/9 in the RE 4 months after paracentesis. The patient had an aggressive course of PG, for which he needed a combination of oral steroid, immunomodulator therapy and biologicals. An association between central retinal arterial occlusion and PG has not been reported before, according to the best of authors' knowledge.