Transient cortical blindness due to cerebral fat embolism
Baki Doğan1
, Sina Çoşkun2, Leyla Niyaz3
1Department of Neurology, Medicine Faculty of Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey
2Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Medicine Faculty of Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey
3Department of Ophthalmology, Medicine Faculty of Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey
Keywords: Cortical blindness, fat embolism syndrome, tibial fracture.
Abstract
Fat embolism syndrome (FES) is a disease that manifests with respiratory distress, neurological impairment, and petechial rash and develops due to embolization of fat particles into several organs after long bone fractures or orthopedic surgery. A 26-year-old male patient developed sudden vision loss 24 h after the tibial fracture. Except for visual acuity, other neurological and ophthalmological examinations were normal. He had transient cortical blindness due to central fat embolism secondary to dislocated tibia fracture. Although the major diagnostic criteria of FES include at least two skin, pulmonary and neurological involvements, cerebral fat embolism may occur alone without any additional organ involvement. Multiple brain fat embolism may lead to cortical blindness, which is usually transient.
Citation: Doğan B, Çoşkun S, Niyaz L. Transient cortical blindness due to cerebral fat embolism. Jt Dis Relat Surg Case Rep 2022;1(2):51-54.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.