The Current Treatment of Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion and Central Retinal Artery Occlusion

Retinal artery occlusion (RAO), including central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) and branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO), is an ischemic stroke syndrome characterized by sudden and painless vision loss. Non-arteritic RAO is accompanied by an increased risk of systemic vascular events and death, therefore, timely secondary stroke prevention is critical. The available evidence suggests thrombolysis may be effective for non-arteritic CRAO at restoring functional vision if treatment is started within hours, whereas other treatments are not evidence-based. Care systems are evolving to decrease pre-hospital delay to presentation and in-hospital delay to diagnosis for CRAO.