Long-Term Evaluation of Retinal Artery Occlusion Patients Who Applied Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) is one of the treatment modalities for retinal artery occlusion (RAO). HBOT may be beneficial if initiated within 2-12 hours of onset of symptoms. The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of HBOT on the patients who had applied to our center for HBOT with an RAO diagnose. Methods: Sixteen patients were included in this study for a three-year period those were applied HBOT with RAO diagnosis. HBOT sessions of these patients had been started as quick as possible soon after they have arrived. Also, all patients had been started medication by ophthalmologists who sent them. To evaluate the outcome of the treatment the patients were called with telephone and ophthalmology clinic control examinations were obtained. Patients were asked survey questions about their visual ameliorations before and after HBOT. Results: Mean initiation duration of patients to get HBOT was about 28 hours. Only one patient has initiated treatment after 13 days from the event and no visual improvement was recorded. Within this patient, no visual amelioration was recorded for two more patients. Among the other 13 patients, three had 80% and more, three had 50-79% and seven had below 50% visual amelioration. Eleven of 13 patients had peripheral visual field amelioration. Discussion: With the medical treatment, an immediate intervention of HBOT was considered a useful treatment modality for RAO. The visual improvement of the visual fields was considered especially in the peripheral vision rather than central vision.

Efficacy of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Central Retinal Artery Occlusion: A Comprehensive Evaluation Using Enhanced Depth Imaging Optical Coherence Tomography

“…Additionally, other OCT parameters we measured were not associated with visual prognosis either. While several previous studies have indicated that the duration between the onset of initial symptoms and the commencement of HBOT correlates with an improvement in BCVA, (17,32) our study did not observe this association. The visual prognosis of our patients was solely associated with baseline BCVA.…”

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Ophthalmology: A Narrative Review

“…To date, no standard treatment has been established for CRAO. Several treatments, such as pentoxifylline, carbogen inhalation, sublingual isosorbide dinitrate, ocular massage with a three-mirror contact lens, acetazolamide, mannitol, methylprednisolone, tissue plasminogen activator, and neodymium: yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser, as well as surgical modalities, such as anterior chamber decompression and pars plana vitrectomy with removal of the embolus, have been suggested [ 2 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ].…”