Ophthalmology Flashcards
What are some common colour changes that may be seen in the eyes due to pathology?
- Red: bleeding or inflammation
- Blue: indicates thinning of the sclera (RA and osteogenesis imperfecta)
- Yellow: jaundice
- Brown/black: pigmentation
What are the main ‘red flag’ features or a red eye?
- Impaired vision
- Pain/photophobia
- Lack of ocular discharge (if discharge present, more likely to be infection ie conjunctivitis)
What kind of ocular pathology causes rapid onset visual loss?
- Vascular eg Central retinal vein occlusion
- Inflammatory ie GCA
What kind of ocular pathologies cause slow onset loss of vision?
-Degenerative causes ie age related macular degeneration
What is acute angle closure glaucoma?
- Rare but serious cause of red eye
- Associated with raised intra-ocular pressure
- Normal: 10-21mmHG
What are the risk factors for acute angle closure glaucoma?
-Hypermetropia (long sightedness)
-Increase in age
-Pupillary dilatation
>is sat in a dark room watching a movie when the pain starts
What are the symptoms of acute angle closure glaucoma?
- Severe pain (eye pain or headache)
- Decrease in visual acuity
- Worse with dilated pupil
- Red eye
- Haloes around lights
- Systemic upset ie nausea and vomiting
- Photophobia
What are the signs of acute angle closure glaucoma?
- Red eye
- Semi-dilated, non reacting pupil
- Corneal oedema: dull/hazy cornea
- Poor visual acuity
What type of visual loss dose acute glaucoma cause?
-Primarily causes visual loss by peripheral visual field deficit
How is acute angle closure glaucoma investigated?
-Slit lamp examination. >Shows large cup and nerve fibre loss -Gonioscopy -Automated perimetry (allows assessment of visual field) -Meaure intraocular pressure -Visual field loss on assessment
How is acute glaucoma managed?
-Urgent referral to ophthalmology
1. Lower the pressure
>topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (dorzolamide) or topical beta blockers
>+oral/iv acetazolamide
2. Constrict the pupil
>Pilocaprine drops (topical cholinergic agonist)
3. Prevent recurrence
>laser +/- surgery
What is chronic glaucoma/primary open angle glaucoma?
- Optic neuropathy associated with raised intra-ocular pressure
- Prevalence increases with age
What are the risk factors for chronic open angle glaucoma?
- Increasing age
- Family history
- Myopia (short sightedness)
- Hypertension
- DM
- Afro-caribbean origin
What are the features of chronic glaucoma?
-Triad of:
>raised IOP
>Abnormal disc
>visual field defect
What are the symptoms of chronic glaucoma?
-Insidious onset
-Often asymptomatic
-Routine finding
-Peripheral visual field loss
>nasal scotoma leading to tunnel vision
-Decreased visual acuity
How is chronic glaucoma investigated?
- Fundoscopy
- Automated perimetry (assess visual fields)
- Slit lamp examination
- Applanation tonometry
- Central corneal thickness measurement
- Gonioscopy
What are the signs of chronic glaucoma on fundoscopy?
- Optic disc cupping
- Optic disc pallor: optic atrophy
- Bayonetting of vessels
- Cup notching
- Disc haemorrhage
How is chronic glaucoma treated?
-Eye drops
>prostaglandin analogue eyedrops ie lantoprost
-2nd line:
>beta blocker or carbonic anhydrase inhibitor or sympthomimetic eyedrops
-If more advanced: surgery or laser treatment
-Regular reassessment to exclude progression and VF loss
What is age related macular degeneration?
- Most common cause of blindness in the UK
- Degeneration of the central retina (macula)
- Bilateral changes
- Females>males
- Disease of age >70
What are risk factors for ARMD?
- Increasing age
- Smoking
- Family history
- Hypertension
- Dyslipidaemia
- DM
What are the symptoms of ARMD?
- Visual loss (subacute onset)
- Decrease in visual acuity (near field )
- Decrease in night time/dark vision
- Fluctuating visual disturbance (varies from day to day)
- Photopsia (flickering/flashing lights, glare around objects)
What is dry ARMD?
- Earlier disease
- most cases are dry
- General atrophy
- Presence of drusen
- Alterations to the reintal pigment epitherlium
What are drusen in regards to ARMD?
- Yellow round spons in the Bruch’s membrane
- Sign of dry ARMD
What is wet ARMD?
- Worse prognosis
- Later disease
- Exudative with neovascularisation
- Characterised by choroidal neovascularisation
- Leakage of serous fluid and blood can result in rapid loss of vision
What are the signs of macular degeneration?
-Distortion of line perception
-Drusen on fundoscopy (dry) and may later form a macular scar
-Wet: well demarcated red patches
(intra/subretinal leakage or haemorrhage)
What investigations need to be done for ARMD?
- Slit lamp microscopy with colour fundus photography
- Fluorescein angiography (to look for neovascularisation)
- Optical coherence tomography
How is ARMD treated?
-Vitamins ‘ACE to Z’ (a,c,e and zinc)
-Antivascular endothelial growth factor for wet ARMD
>ranibizumab (slows progression of neovascularisation)
-Blind registration and visual aids
What are cataracts?
- Common condition = lens gradually opacifies and becomes cloudy)
- Decreased visual acuity and blurred vision
- Leading cause of blindness worldwide
What are the causes of cataracts?
- Most common cause: normal ageing
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- DM
- Trauma
- Steroids
- Radiation
- Metbolic disorders
- Congenital ie TORCH infections
How does the type/classification of cataract relate to its cause?
- Nuclear: old age
- Polar: inherited
- Subscapular: steroid use
- Dot opacities: common in normal lenses, seen in diabetics and myotonic dystrophy
What are the symptoms of cataracts?
- Gradual onset
- Decrease in vision
- Faded colour vision
- Glare
- Haloes around lights
What is the hallmark sign of cataracts which can be elicited on examination?
-Defect in/loss of red reflex
What investigations need to be done for cataracts?
-Ophthalmoscopy on dilated pupil
>need to see normal fundus and normal optic nerve
-Slit lamp examination
How are cataracts managed?
-Conservative management initially
>stronger glasses
>encourage use of brighter lights
-Surgery
>definitive treatment - removes cloudy lens and replaces with artificial one
>referral for: visual impairment, impact on QoL, pt choice
What are some possible complications of cataract surgery?
- Posterior capsule opacification (thickening of lens capsule)
- Retinal detachment
- Posterior capsule rutpture
- Endophthalmitis (inflammation of the aqueous and or vitreous humour)
What is vitreous detachment?
- Precedes retinal detachment.
- Vitreous shrinks with age and can sometimes pull away causing bleeds or retinal detachment
- Causes flashes and floaters
What is retinal detachment?
- Acute sudden painless loss of vision
- Holes/tears in the retina allow fluid to separate the sensory retina from the retinal pigmented epithelium
- Visual defect location depends on which part of the retina has detached
- A retinal tear needs fixing before detachment occurs
What are some risk factors/causes of retinal detachment?
- Myopia (short-sightedness)
- Cataract surgery
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Trauma
- Vasculitis
How does retinal detachment present? Think about the 4Fs..
- Flashes
- Floaters
- Fall in acuity
- Field loss
- Painless loss of acuity - like a curtain falling down
- Complain of seeing ‘spider webs’
What investigations are done for retinal detachment?
- B-scan USS
- Ophthalmoscopy
- Slit lamp examination
What would the investigations for retinal detachment show?
- Grey, opalescent retina which balloons forwards
- ‘Peeling away’ of retina, tears may be visible
How is retinal detachment managed?
-Urgent ophthalmology referral
-Rest
-Positioned according to location of detachment
>superior detachment: lie flat
>inferior detachment: sit at 30* with head up
-Laser therapy
-Urgent surgery
What is a vitreous haemorrhage?
- Bleeding into areas around the vitreous humour
- Causes sudden painless loss of vision
What are the risk factors/causes of vitreous haemorrhage?
-Anything which can cause neovascularisation or bleeding risk
>Diabetes
>Bleeding disorders
>Retinal tear/detachment
>Trauma
>Central retinal vein occlusion which has neovascularised
>Wet ARMD
What are the symptoms of vitreous haemorrhages?
- Small bleed: floaters, dark spots
- Large bleed: obscured, complete loss of vision
What are the signs of vitreous haemorrhage on examination?
- Absent red reflex
- Retina not visible
What investigations should be done for vitreous haemorrhage?
- Fundoscopy
- B scan USS
- Eye examination > decreased visual acuity
How is a vitreous haemorrhage managed?
- Usually spontaneously resorbs
- If dense/severe: vitrectomy to remove the blood
What is a central retinal artery occlusion?
- Considered a form of stroke
- Dramatic visual loss within seconds of occlusion
- acuity limited to finger counting or worse
- Less common than CRVO
What are the causes/risk factors of CRAO?
- Thromboembolic/vascular disease
- Arteritis
- AF
- Heart valve disease
- Diabetes
- Smoking
- Hyperlipidaemia
What are the features of CRAO?
-Sudden painless loss of vision
What are the signs of CRAO?
- Relative afferent pupillary defect: MARCUS-GUNN pupil
- Fundoscopic signs: white retina, cheery red spot at macular
How is CRAO managed?
- Treat as stroke
- Immediate CT head
- Exclude GCA (using ESR)
- Intraocular hypotensives (acetazolamide)
- Decrease IOP by ocular massage
- Address cv risk factors to reduce recurrence
What is central retinal vein occlusion?
-Sudden painless LOV
What are the risk factors/causes of CRVO?
- Glaucoma
- Polycythaemia
- Hypertension
- DM
- Increasing age
- Vascular disease
What are the symptoms of CRVO?
- Sudden painless loss of vision
- Severe drop in acuity
What are the signs of CRVO on fundoscopy?
- Cotton wool spots
- Swollen optic nerve
- Macular oedema
- Severe retinal haemorrhage
- cheese and tomato pizza appearance
How is CRVO managed?
- Ophthalmology
- Intra-vitreal anti-vgef therapy
- Dexamethasone implants
What are some complications of CRVO?
- Neovascularisation
- Chronic macular oedema
What is optic neuritis?
-Inflammation of the optic nerve