The role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in central retinal artery occlusion

In the Central Retinal Artery Occlusion (CRAO), the patient's vision usually disappears within a few seconds without pain. Recommended treatments include anterior chamber paracentesis (the removal of fluid from the anterior chamber), the intravenous injection of acetazolamide, breathing a mixture of oxygen as well as carbon dioxide, and direct injection of thrombolytic agents. Another treatment is the use of high pressure oxygen. In this review article, we will examine the effects of such treatment.

A review of articles and texts was done in Pubmed, Scopus, and Google scholar using key words, "central retinal artery occlusion" "sudden vision loss", "painless vision loss", and "hyperbaric oxygen therapy in CRAO".

Oxygen therapy showed beneficial effects in improving visual acuity in CRAO patients.

Oxygen therapy can be normobaric and hyperbaric. When patients do not respond well to 100% oxygen at normal pressure, Hyperbaric oxygen (pressure above 1.4 atmospheres) can be used to treat patients.