Approach to anisocoria in the emergency department

Authors

Kellan Clausen, Department of Emergency Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States.
Steven Davis, Department of Emergency Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States.
Ali Pourmand, Department of Emergency Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, United States. Electronic address: Pourmand@gwu.edu.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-1-2023

Journal

The American journal of emergency medicine

Volume

69

DOI

10.1016/j.ajem.2023.04.047

Keywords

Anisocoria; Anticholinergic; Vision loss

Abstract

Anisocoria describes asymmetric pupillary diameter, which can result from traumatic, pharmacologic, inflammatory, or ischemic effects on the eye. In many cases, anisocoria represents a normal physiologic variant. Morbidity associated with anisocoria is directly related to the inciting cause and can vary from benign to life-threatening. A thorough understanding by emergency physicians of normal ocular neuroanatomy, and of common causes of pathologic anisocoria, including medication-induced anisocoria, can facilitate appropriate resource utilization and timely subspecialty consultation, and can help prevent irreversible ocular injury and patient morbidity. We describe a patient who presented to the emergency department with acute onset of blurry vision with anisocoria.

APA Citation

Clausen, Kellan; Davis, Steven; and Pourmand, Ali, "Approach to anisocoria in the emergency department" (2023). GW Authored Works. Paper 2833.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/2833

Department

Emergency Medicine