title: [Prognosis and differential diagnosis of Purtscher's retinopathy].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Purtscher's retinopathy is accompanied by a distinct loss of vision as a result of severe trauma to the chest or skull. Reports on visual prognosis in the literature are not uniform.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data of 10 patients with Purtscher's retinopathy from the department of Ophthalmology in Freiburg, published data from 55 patients with Purtscher's retinopathy and 20 patients with traumatic retinal hemorrhages taken from the literature were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average visual acuity of the 10 patients from Freiburg was 0.3 within a short period after the accident and the final average visual acuity was 0.46. The average visual acuity of the 55 patients with Purtscher's retinopathy was 0.21 within a short period after the accident with an average final visual acuity of 0.61. The average visual acuity of the 20 patients with traumatic retinal hemorrhages from the literature was 0.45 within a short period after the accident with an average final visual acuity of 0.74. Therefore the initial and the final visual acuity were better in patients with traumatic retinal hemorrhages compared to patients with Purtscher's retinopathy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In spite of severe initial retinal findings, the visual prognosis is usually not disappointing. Prognosis of visual acuity was better in patients with traumatic retinal hemorrhages compared to patients with Purtscher's retinopathy.
authors.affiliation: Universitäts-Augenklinik, Freiburg. schmidtd@aug.ukl.uni-freiburg.de
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Otto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012160:Retina / Q000293:injuries*; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012166:Retinal Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000293:injuries*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D014792:Visual Acuity