Retinal vascular phenomena in multiple sclerosis: Case report and narrative review of the literature

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most prevalent inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in the world. It may present involvement at the ocular level through the inflammatory compromise of different tissues.Objective: To provide knowledge on the importance of the early approach of multiple sclerosis by the ophthalmologist.Study design: Case report and narrative review of the literature.Case summary: We report the case of a young patient with signs of retinal vasculitis (RV) associated with bilateral optic neuritis and anterior uveitis as an unusual debut of MS.For the narrative review, the advanced search was carried out in three electronic databases: PUBMED, LILACS and OVID. Through the Zotero reference manager, the elimination of duplicates and critical reading of the title and summary of 162 articles by two researchers was carried out. Conclusion: MS is a chronic inflammatory disease of the CNS. It can affect the ocular structures in different ways, one of them is RV, which although it is characterized by the involvement of venous vessels, we must take into account atypical presentations such as periarteriolar hemorrhages, large vessel aneurysms, peripheral capillary closure, retinal artery occlusion, neovascularization of the optic nerve or appearance in the early stages of the disease. The strong association between RV and MS activity highlights the importance of recognizing atypical patterns of a disease that requires early management and follow-up by neurology and ophthalmology.

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