PRESSURE CHANGES IN THE OPHTHALMIC ARTERY AFTER CAROTID OCCLUSION: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY IN THE RABBIT

Abstract

IN recent years ophthalmologists have become increasingly aware of the syndrome of carotid occlusion, as many patients with this condition present themselves complaining of ocular symptoms. Indeed, these may be the only symptoms, and the responsibility of the ophthalmologist is considerable when he alone has the chance of detecting the condition. The two commonest ocular symptoms associated with this syndrome are homolateral blindness and crossed hemianopic field defects. The latter have been ascribed with some certainty to lesions of the middle cerebral artery (Walsh and Smith, 1952), and are unlikely to be present without associated systemic symptoms; but homo- lateral blindness, whether transient or permanent, may be the patient's only complaint.