Abstract
A 23-year-old man with a history of alcoholism presented with vomiting, fever, and sharp epigastric pain radiating to the back and flanks. He was diagnosed as a case of acute alcoholic pancreatitis on the basis of clinical findings and investigations. On the next day of presentation, he developed sudden bilateral visual loss. His best-corrected visual acuity was finger counting at one-foot distance in both eyes. He had diffuse whitening in the circumpapillary area, haloes around the retinal vessels (Purtscher flecken) and intra-retinal hemorrhages on ophthalmoscopic examination. Optical coherence tomography revealed bilateral macular edema. These findings were characteristic of Purtscher-like retinopathy. The patient showed systemic and visual improvement at 8 weeks follow-up after receiving the conventional treatment for acute alcoholic pancreatitis. This case emphasizes the importance of fundus examination by an ophthalmologist in the diagnosis of this rare under-diagnosed entity.
Keywords
Publication details
- DOI
- 10.4103/0974-620x.184531
- Journal
- Oman Journal of Ophthalmology, 9(2), 110-112
- Publisher
- Medknow Publications
- Open access
- Gold open access
Cite this article
APA 7
Nema, N., Ishrat, S., Verma, A., & Kela, M. (2016). Purtscher-like retinopathy in acute alcoholic pancreatitis. Oman Journal of Ophthalmology, 9(2), 110-112. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-620x.184531
MLA 9
Nema, Nitin, et al. "Purtscher-like retinopathy in acute alcoholic pancreatitis." Oman Journal of Ophthalmology, vol. 9, no. 2, 2016, pp. 110-112. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-620x.184531.
Chicago (author–date)
Nema, Nitin, Saba Ishrat, Abha Verma, and Manoj Kela. 2016. "Purtscher-like retinopathy in acute alcoholic pancreatitis." Oman Journal of Ophthalmology 9 (2): 110-112. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-620x.184531.
Harvard
Nema, N., Ishrat, S., Verma, A. and Kela, M. (2016) 'Purtscher-like retinopathy in acute alcoholic pancreatitis', Oman Journal of Ophthalmology, 9(2), pp. 110-112. doi:10.4103/0974-620x.184531.
Vancouver
Nema N, Ishrat S, Verma A, Kela M. Purtscher-like retinopathy in acute alcoholic pancreatitis. Oman Journal of Ophthalmology. 2016;9(2):110-112. doi:10.4103/0974-620x.184531
IEEE
N. Nema, S. Ishrat, A. Verma, and M. Kela, "Purtscher-like retinopathy in acute alcoholic pancreatitis," Oman Journal of Ophthalmology, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 110-112, 2016, doi: 10.4103/0974-620x.184531.