| Summary: | Central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) is characterized by the sudden, painless loss of vision. Typical sonographic and optic coherence tomography (OCT) findings are a retrobulbar spot sign and prominent middle limiting membrane (p-MLM) sign. It remains uncertain whether the retrobulbar spot sign alone or coinciding with the appearance of p-MLM sign is a prognostic marker for visual acuity and the development of secondary retinal ischemia after CRAO. In our prospective cohort study, we included patients with a non-arteritic central artery occlusion < 4 weeks. We examined the following parameters at prespecified time points: ultrasound examination of orbital cavity, Spectral Domain-OCT examination, visual acuity test, and fundoscopy and ultra-widefield angiography to diagnose retinal vascularization. The presence of p-MLM sign in SD-OCT after CRAO was accompanied by significantly better vision during the first four weeks (2.3 (IQR 0.75) vs. 2.6 (IQR 0.33); <i>p</i> = 0.006). Moreover, the spot sign seems to be a prognostic factor for developing secondary retinal ischemia (8 (100%) vs. 0 (0%); <i>p</i> = 0.036). A retrobulbar spot sign seems to be a negative prognostic factor and is associated with secondary retinal ischemia, whereas a p-MLM sign is a somewhat positive prognostic factor for visual acuity.
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