Central retinal artery

Revision as of 23:39, 8 August 2012 by WikiBot (talk | contribs) (Bot: Automated text replacement (-{{SIB}} + & -{{EH}} + & -{{EJ}} + & -{{Editor Help}} + & -{{Editor Join}} +))
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Infobox Artery

Cardiology Network

Discuss Central retinal artery further in the WikiDoc Cardiology Network
Adult Congenital
Biomarkers
Cardiac Rehabilitation
Congestive Heart Failure
CT Angiography
Echocardiography
Electrophysiology
Cardiology General
Genetics
Health Economics
Hypertension
Interventional Cardiology
MRI
Nuclear Cardiology
Peripheral Arterial Disease
Prevention
Public Policy
Pulmonary Embolism
Stable Angina
Valvular Heart Disease
Vascular Medicine

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]



The central retinal artery (retinal artery) branches off the ophthalmic artery, running inferior to the optic nerve within its dural sheath to the eyeball.

Anatomy

It pierces the optic nerve close to the eyeball, sending branches over the internal surface of the retina, and these terminal branches are the only blood supply to the larger part of it.

The central part of the retina where the light rays are focussed after passing through the pupil and the lens is a circular area called the macula. The center of this circular area is the fovea. The fovea and a small area surrounding it are not supplied by the central retinal artery or its branches.

The central retinal artery still supplies all the nerve fibers that form the optic nerve that carries the visual information to the occipital lobe cerebral cortex.

Pathology

Thus if the central retinal artery gets occluded, there is complete loss of vision in that eye even though the fovea is not affected. The entire retina (with the exception of the fovea) becomes pale and swollen and opaque while the central fovea still appears reddish (this is because the choroid color shows through). This is the basis of the famous "Cherry red spot" seen on examination of the retina on funduscopy of a central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO).

In some cases - approximately 20% of the population - there is a branch of the ciliary circulation called the cilio-retinal artery which supplies the retina between the macula and the optic nerve, including the nerve fibers from the foveal photoreceptors. If this artery is present, the central vision will be preserved even in case of CRAO.

Additional images

External links

References

Template:Arteries of head and neck

Template:WikiDoc Sources