Purtscher-like retinopathy after prostate surgery.
OBJECTIVE
To describe a case of Purtscher-like retinopathy after uncomplicated radical prostatectomy.


METHODS
Observational case report.


RESULTS
Purtscher retinopathy is named after the Austrian ophthalmologist Othmar Purtscher (1852-1927) who first fully described the syndrome of "traumatic retinal angiopathy" in 1912 as patches of retinal whitening, retinal hemorrhages, and disk edema after compression injury to the head. Since that time, similar findings, often called Purtscher-like retinopathy, have been described in association with a number of conditions, including, among others, acute pancreatitis, chest compression injury, childbirth, and fat embolism syndrome, after long-bone fracture or surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
The occurrence of Purtscher-like changes after nonorthopedic surgery seems, however, to be rare. The authors describe a single case of Purtscher-like retinopathy after uncomplicated radical prostatectomy.
*Department of Ophthalmology, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, California; †West Coast Retina Medical Group, San Francisco, California; and ‡Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
Ako
A
Takakura
Paul J
PJ
Stewart
Robert N
RN
Johnson
Emmett T
ET
Cunningham
D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D012166:Retinal Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology