Sickle cell disease may manifest as occlusion of arterial retinal vessels during a vaso-occlusive crisis, which can have multiple triggers. In this case, the patient had a simultaneous bilateral branch retinal artery occlusion, following physical activity, due to a sickle cell crisis. Timely treatment was started with exchange transfusion and erythrocytapheresis, which resulted in marked improvement of visual acuity and visual field over a 3-month follow-up. This case enlightens the importance of early recognition and communication with other medical specialties for prompt initiation of treatment and better functional results in a disease that is vision-threatening and normally associated with poor prognosis. In addition, this case emphasises the need for regular follow-up on patients with sickle cell disease to detect early signs of retinopathy and to alert patients to symptoms like episodes of transient loss of vision and the presence of scotomas.
Goncalves et al. (Fri,) studied this question.