CASE REPORT article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.

Sec. Atherosclerosis and Vascular Medicine

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1560482

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements in Ischemic Retinopathies: Unraveling Molecular Mechanisms and Innovative Therapeutic AvenuesView all articles

Case Report: Paracentral Acute Middle Maculopathy Following Carotid Artery Dissection

Provisionally accepted
Muhi  Dean BaraziMuhi Dean Barazi1*Yusuf  BadeYusuf Bade2Malek  ZanbrakjiMalek Zanbrakji3Patrick  A StonePatrick A Stone4Omar  Belal SabbaghOmar Belal Sabbagh5Mohsin  H AliMohsin H Ali6Alexander  MelamudAlexander Melamud6
  • 1Rice University, Houston, United States
  • 2School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States
  • 3Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
  • 4Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
  • 5West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
  • 6The Retina Group of Washington, Reston, VA, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background: Paracentral acute middle maculopathy (PAMM) is a rare, presumed ischemic maculopathy. While primarily associated with retinal vascular pathologies, several case studies have documented PAMM diagnoses following systemic cardiovascular events or interventions. Here, we discuss a case of PAMM development after carotid artery dissection (CAD).Case Presentation: A woman in her late 30s presented to the emergency department with transient right-side weakness and amaurosis in her left eye lasting 1-2 hours. An initial stroke and embolic workup showed no significant findings. She later presented to the retina clinic with normal visual acuity and intraocular pressure. Dilated fundus examination, intravenous fluorescein angiography, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) were unremarkable. Several days later, the patient returned to the emergency department complaining of transient ride-sided paresthesia, transient facial weakness, and dysarthria. A computed tomography angiogram revealed a dissection of the left internal carotid artery. Repeated retinal evaluation revealed a hyperreflective band on SD-OCT, characteristic of PAMM, spanning from the inner plexiform layer to the outer plexiform layer. Subsequent SD-OCT scans showed a resolution of the acute hyperreflective PAMM lesion with corresponding attenuation of the affected inner nuclear layer. Follow-up visits indicated a residual inferior paracentral scotoma in the affected eye.Conclusions: This case illustrates the rare occurrence of PAMM associated with CAD, underscoring the link between systemic vascular events and retinal ischemia, and demonstrating the potential of PAMM as an early indicator of the causative vascular pathology.

Keywords: paracentral acute middle maculopathy, carotid, Dissection, Optical Coherence Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Retinal Artery, Artery occlusion, case report

Received: 14 Jan 2025; Accepted: 21 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Barazi, Bade, Zanbrakji, Stone, Sabbagh, Ali and Melamud. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Muhi Dean Barazi, Rice University, Houston, United States

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