Retinal Vein Occlusion with COVID-19: A Case Report and Review of Literature

ABSTRACT

Objectives

To provide a case report of Retinal Vein Occlusion (RVO) with COVID-19 infection.

Case

A 15-year-old healthy male presented with blurring of vision, 2+ vitreous cells, retinal haemorrhages and dilated and tortuous retinal vessels in the left eye within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. He was diagnosed with left non-ischaemic CRVO, with a suspected aetiology of COVID-19.

Discussion

A literature review found 12 reported cases of RVO associated with COVID-19. All but one patient was younger than 60, with a mean age of 42 years. Management varied, but in the majority (8/12), visual acuity (VA) improved with follow-up, and five (42%) had a final VA of 20/20

Conclusion

In the absence of other known aetiological factors, ophthalmologists should consider COVID-19 as a cause of RVO. The outcome can vary, but the majority can expect improvement in VA with time.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• coronavirus
• SARS-COV-2
• retinal vein occlusion
• CRVO

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Patient consent

Consent to publish the case report was obtained. This report does not contain any personal information that could lead to identification of the patient.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.