Long-standing Embolic (Calcific) Obstruction of the Inferior Temporal Artery

Presenting Symptom: Partial blindness. Pathology: Embolism. Clinical: The patient was a 52-year old male who with rheumatogenic mitral stenosis who developed partial blindness immediately following mitral commissurotomy. An embolus was seen on the disc obstructing the inferior temporal artery with opacification of the corresponding retina. The present photograph, taken a year later, shows the same embolus with obliteration of a short segment of the artery, collateral circulation just off the disc and normal appearing retinal arteries peripheral to this collateral supply. Characteristic of calcific emboli, as represented by the present case, is their permanence and lack of fragmentation. (The blue dot at the edge of the disc is a photographic artifact.) Disease/ Diagnosis: Retinal artery occlusion