Paracentral acute middle maculopathy in the setting of central retinal artery occlusion following COVID-19 diagnosis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Since its emergence in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 has disseminated across many other countries worldwide. In this report, we firstly presented a patient with mild COVID-19 disease who developed paracentral acute middle maculopathy (PAMM) due to CRAO. CASE PRESENTATION: A 54-year-old male patient who reported a contact with a COVID-19 patient applied to the hospital and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by polimerase chain reaction testing. He had no significant past medical history. Chest computed tomography was not notable. He had a mild COVID-19 course during hospitalization. Two weeks following COVID-19 diagnosis, he reported profund vision loss (counting fingers) in his right eye where central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) was detected on fundoscopic examination. Coagulation profile was within normal limits. Hypercoagulable work up was also not notable. Treatment was given for CRAO. Visual acuity was counting fingers at 30 cm. Five days following treatment. Optical coherence tomography analysis showed increased diffuse reflectance and thickening at the level of inner nuclear layer consistent with PAMM. Fluorescein angiography illustrated no perfusion defect. CONCLUSION: This is the first case that reports PAMM in the setting of CRAO following COVID-19 diagnosis. Viral induced microangiopathy may involve in the development of CRAO in our patient without a hypercoagulable state and additional risk factors. Physicians should be vigilant to seek for retinal evaluation in patients with significant visual loss even after a mild COVID-19 history.