Unilateral Blindness Following Excision of a Carotid Body Tumour

Abstract 

We present a case of branch retinal artery occlusion following excision of a carotid body tumour. A 37-year-old woman complained of partial loss of vision in her right eye 4h following uneventful excision of a carotid body tumour. Clinical examination and subsequent retinography confirmed branch retinal artery occlusion. A duplex scan showed a kink in the internal carotid artery resulting in a significant stenosis. The kink was caused by redundancy of the carotid artery after removal of the large tumour which had caused significant splaying and stretching of the carotid bifurcation. We believe that this kink was the origin of an embolus which occluded the retinal artery branch.

Keywords: Carotid body tumour, Retinal artery occlusion