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Lesions of the Mitral Valve as a Cause of Central Retinal Artery Occlusion: Presentation and Discussion of Two Cases
Author(s) -
Ayati Maryam,
Gori Tommaso,
Münzel Thomas
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
echocardiography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1540-8175
pISSN - 0742-2822
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8175.2009.01016.x
Subject(s) - central retinal artery occlusion , presentation (obstetrics) , medicine , mitral valve , occlusion , cardiology , retinal , ophthalmology , surgery
We present two cases of mitral valve lesions that manifested with unilateral blindness caused by central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO): Case 1. A 68‐year‐old woman was admitted to our clinic for sudden blindness. Retinal artery angiogram showed CRAO. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) documented a mass attached to the ventricular side of the posterior mitral leaflet, which at pathology was identified as a blood cyst. Case 2. A 67‐year‐old man was admitted for a sudden unilateral painless loss of vision. Retinal angiogram documented CRAO, and TEE showed a highly mobile, spherical, lesion on the atrial side of anterior mitral leaflet. In this case, the pathological finding was a degenerated calcified thrombosis. We report on two cases of very rare abnormalities of the mitral valve presenting with a very rare embolic complication, i.e., CRAO. Like for cryptogenic stroke, transesophageal echocardiography plays a central role in the diagnosis of cardiogenic embolic sources. (Echocardiography 2010;27:E1‐E3)