Damascus-SANA
The specialist in eye diseases and surgery, Dr. Buthaina Al-Sheikha, documented a clinical case of unilateral vision loss due to Covid 19, which was reviewed by the General Authority of Damascus Hospital and presented within the activities of the thirty-eighth conference of the Syrian Society of Ophthalmologists and Surgery, which concludes its activities today at the Ebla Hotel in Damascus.
Dr. Sheikha told SANA that what prompted her to document the case was the arrival of four cases to the hospital within four months, complaining of unilateral blindness without pain or a known cause associated with a positive corona result, as two cases died due to the poor general condition of the two patients, while the third and fourth cases are under treatment and follow-up in the hospital.
The case documented by Dr. Sheikha, as she explains, is for a 65-year-old man who attended the emergency department with a complaint of a sudden loss of visual ability in the right eye without pain with eyelid drooping. After conducting the necessary examinations and investigations, it was found that there was a paralysis of a number of cranial nerves that move the eye (3, 4 and 6) and the facial sensory nerve. 5, vasomotor 7 and central retinal artery occlusion due to thrombosis.
The tests showed, according to the ophthalmologist, high blood sugar in the patient and the presence of a viral infection, and a chest x-ray gave an indication of infection with Covid 19 without any chest symptoms, then the result of the PCR was positive, meaning that he is a Corona patient.
After the patient recovered from Corona and was discharged, Dr. Sheikha continued, he returned to the hospital to follow up on the complications of the neuro-ophthalmic injury, where the case developed into a dacryocystitis with exophthalmos and a lesion in the pilgrims in the form of an abscess caused by a breakfast associated with a brain abscess and an abscess in the maxillary sinus, and the case is now following up with the provision of the necessary treatment.
Presenting the situation during the conference sessions, Dr. Sheikha indicated that despite the need for more studies and research, a hypothesis can be made that there is a link between infection with Covid 19 and neuro-ophthalmic complications.
Dr. Sheikha indicated that the four cases that visited Damascus Hospital are among the rare cases, as only cases of conjunctivitis appeared in the other cases of corona, but these cases may be evidence that corona causes thrombosis that leads to blockage of arteries.
Enas Al-Saffan