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Central scotoma at near top of Mount Everest – a case report of bilateral high altitude retinopathy
Nazrina Hassan1, Yong Meng Hsien2, Wan Haslina Wan Abdul Halim3, Norshamsiah Md Din4.
Introduction: High altitude retinopathy (HAR) is part of high altitude illness (HAI) which includes acute mountain sickness, high altitude cerebral oedema and pulmonary oedema. We present a case of bilateral HAR with right eye central scotoma during Mount Everest expedition. Case description: A 37-year-old lady presented with decreased right eye (OD) vision and central scotoma during ascending to the top of Mount Everest at 5100m. She developed respiratory symptoms with shortness of breath at the same time and warranted her a rapid descend on day eight of her excursion. Ocular examination revealed visual acuity of 6/36 OD and 6/6 left eye (OS). Both pupils were normal without relative afferent pupillary defect. Anterior segment and intraocular pressure were unremarkable. Fundus examination revealed bilateral multiple retinal haemorrhages along vascular arcades, with macula involvement in the right eye only. Otherwise there was no sign of optic disc swelling, vascular sheathing or choroidal involvement. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the macula showed hyperreflectivity changes on the right fovea at the level of superficial nerve fiber layer. Diagnosis of bilateral HAR was made and treated conservatively. She was also diag-nosed with HAI with acute pulmonary oedema and pneumonia by the treating physician. The retinal haemorrhages started to resolve after two weeks with full recovery of vision in ten weeks. Conclusion: With increasing popularity of mountaineering, ophthalmologists should be prepared to recognise HAR as part of HAI. Visual impairment depends on the location and extent of the lesions. HAR is self-limiting with good prognosis but can be associated with poten-tially fatal conditions of HAI e.g. pulmonary oedema in our case.
Affiliation:
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
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Indexation |
Indexed by |
MyJurnal (2021) |
H-Index
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3 |
Immediacy Index
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0.000 |
Rank |
0 |
Indexed by |
Scopus 2020 |
Impact Factor
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CiteScore (0.2) |
Rank |
Q4 (Medicine (all)) |
Additional Information |
SJR (0.144) |
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