title: Morphologic changes of the macula in a patient with Purtscher's retinopathy.
abstract: Purtscher's retinopathy is a rare complication after trauma to the chest or bone fractures. We report about a patient, which we examined 6 months after a serious car accident. Visual acuity was 20/20 in both eyes. Examination with the Amsler grid revealed a paracentral scotoma in the left eye. In the fluorescein angiography of the left eye performed with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope we found capillary dropout, which corresponded well to the scotoma. Measured by digital image analysis, the area of the foveal avascular zone was eccentrically enlarged by a factor of 4. The mean perifoveal intercapillary area was also enlarged in the corresponding quadrant. This reflects that focal capillary dropout may result in scotoma rather than in a decrease in visual acuity as reported in other diseases.
authors.affiliation: Augenklinik der Medizinischen Fakultät, RWTH Aachen, Deutschland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Remky
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Arend
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bertram
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005264:Femoral Fractures / Q000150:complications*; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009887:Ophthalmoscopy; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D012607:Scotoma / Q000209:etiology