Evaluation of Minimally Invasive Therapies and Rationale for a Prospective Randomized Trial to Evaluate Selective Intra-arterial Lysis for Clinically Complete Central Retinal Artery Occlusion

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Abstract
SUDDEN AND SEVERE loss of vision because of central retinal artery occlusion(CRAO) is one of the most dramatic ophthalmic events for both the patient and the physician. Since Albrecht von Graefe described the presumed cause and the characteristic features of CRAO, the disease has remained a therapeutic dilemma.1 Ever since then, a variety of treatment attempts have been proposed. None of these treatment attempts has shown a clear therapeutic benefit or is uniformly accepted. Because it remains unclear whether these treatments improve the natural course of the disease, most physicians tend to use a cocktail of treatments with relatively few potential adverse effects such as ocular massage, oral acetazolamide, and/or topical antiglaucomatosa.