Purtscher retinopathy following isolated chest compression: a case report

Abstract

This case report describes the case of a 56-year-old man who developed Purtscher retinopathy following compressive chest trauma. During the tertiary survey, the patient was found to have a unilateral partial vision decline despite sustaining only mild rib fractures. The patient was diagnosed with a rare complication of Purtscher retinopathy. At a 2-week follow-up outpatient examination, improved visual acuity was observed. This case highlights the importance of conducting a tertiary survey not only on the directly impacted site, but also comprehensively across all sites, while attentively listening to and addressing the patient's complaints.

Keywords: Case reports; Posttraumatic complication; Purtscher retinopathy; Tertiary survey; Trauma-induced retinopathy.

Fig. 1.

Optical coherence tomography scan. (A) Retinal thickening, edema, and serous detachment at the inner layer. (B) Hyperreflective band lesions at the inner nuclear layer level.

Fig. 2.

Fluorescein angiography image. (A) Intraretinal hemorrhage is observed in the right eye. (B) Reduced blood flow in both the deep and inner retinal vascular plexuses, accompanied by a decreasing honeycomb-like intense signal pattern at the choriocapillaris layer, is shown.

Fig. 3.

Images of the right eye 11 days after discharge. (A) The fundoscopic examination results show that the intraretinal hemorrhage had remarkably decreased. (B) Optical coherence tomography reveals reduced retinal thickening, edema, and serous detachment at the inner layer compared with that at the previous examination, along with improvement in the hyperreflective band lesions at the inner nuclear layer level.