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Spontaneous retinal venous pulsations can be present with a swollen optic disc

¹ Hull and East Yorkshire Eye Hospital, Hull, UK
² Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
H D R McKee;
hamishmckee@hotmail.com

Keywords: spontaneous retinal venous pulsations; papilloedema; optic disc

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I read with interest the article "Spontaneous retinal venous pulsation: aetiology and significance" by Jacks and Miller.¹ Their explanation for these pulsations is essentially no different from that put forward by Levine in 1998.² They then go on to discuss the clinical importance of spontaneous retinal venous pulsations (SVPs). They refer to the finding of Levin that the presence of SVPs is an indication of an intracranial pressure below 190 mm H₂0.³ However, they conclude without justification that "presence of SVPs allows the examiner to conclude that the patient does not have optic disc swelling...".

We cannot conclude that because an individual has SVPs there is no true disc swelling. Shortly after their article was published, a 53 year old man was referred to us by his optometrist with "raised discs". On examination, he was found to have markedly elevated optic discs, with an SVP in the left eye. . . . [Full text of this article]

A S Jacks³

³ Department of Ophthalmology, Selly Oak Hospital, Raddlebarn Road, Birmingham B29 6JD, UK; andrewjacks@doctors.org.uk