Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2011 Jan-Feb;59(1):51-3.
doi: 10.4103/0301-4738.73717.

Dynamic focal retinal arteriolar vasospasm in migraine

Anmar M Abdul-Rahman  1 , Jagjit S Gilhotra, Dinesh Selva
Affiliations
Case Reports

Dynamic focal retinal arteriolar vasospasm in migraine

Anmar M Abdul-Rahman et al. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2011 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

A 48-year-old man presented following an episode of sudden onset simultaneous inferior altitudinal visual loss in his left eye and visual obscuration with shimmering in the inferonasal quadrant of the right eye. Clinical examination demonstrated left superior hemiretinal artery occlusion and an area of focal dynamic spasm along the right superior temporal branch retinal artery, the arteriolar spastic cycle was about 2 sec in duration. Hematological (including complete blood count, thrombophilia screen, vasculitic screen and serum magnesium), carotid, and cardiac investigations were normal. He was given acetazolamide 500 mg orally, timolol maleate 0.5% eye drops once daily and sublingual amyl-nitrate 0.8 mg, and maintained on felodipine 10 mg/day and aspirin 100 mg/day. The area of focal arteriolar spasm in the right eye resolved over two months. To our knowledge there are no prior reports of photographically documented dynamic focal retinal vascular spasm on a MEDLINE and PUBMED search.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Color fundus photo of the left eye demonstrating left superior hemiretinal artery occlusion
Figure 2(a-d)
Figure 2(a-d)
Area of focal dynamic spasm along the right superior temporal branch retinal artery, the arteriolar spastic cycle was about 2 sec in duration. Timing of the vasospastic cycle was performed at a slit-lamp and photographs (a-d) were subsequently taken to represent different phases of the cycle
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Flammer J, Pache M, Resink T. Vasospasm, its role in the pathogenesis of diseases with particular reference to the eye. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2001;20:319–49. - PubMed
    1. Lewinshtein D, Shevell MI, Rothner AD. Familial retinal migraines. Pediatr Neurol. 2004;30:356–7. - PubMed
    1. Gasser P, Flammer J. Influence of vasospasm on visual function. Doc Ophthalmol. 1987;66:3–18. - PubMed
    1. Hegyalijai T, Meienberg O, Dubler B, Gasser P. Cold-induced acral vasospasm in migraine as assessed by nailfold video-microscopy: Prevalence and response to migraine prophylaxis. Angiology. 1997;48:345–9. - PubMed
    1. Guthauser U, Flammer J, Mahler F. The relationship between digital and ocular vasospasm. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 1988;226:224–6. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances