Shadowing Practice: Retinal Artery Occlusion vs. Retinal Vein Occlusion - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Medical students hate this question, retinal artery occlusion versus retinal vein occlusion.

The reason that this is so difficult is that both of these processes will present with acute painless monocular vision loss.

And yes, we can kind of nitpick here and maybe say

that retinal vein occlusion tends to be a little bit more painful, or maybe there's some temporal sparing in retinal artery occlusion,

but the test writer knows this and they're not going to give you that.

So in your exam, the way that you're going to get this right is

if you can identify buzzwords and identify the picture when they show you the back of somebody's eye.

So the way that I think you can simplify this is let's break it down and get back to basics.

If you understand pathophysiology, this makes perfect sense.

One of these has artery in the name.

One of these has vein in the name.

Artery brings the blood to something and the vein takes it away.

So if we block the artery, blood cannot get to the retina.

If we block the vein, blood can't get out of the retina.

And if we keep it that stupid and that simple, this all makes perfect sense.

So in other words, a retinal artery occlusion where your artery is blocked, therefore blood can't get to something, that's a supply problem.

A retinal vein occlusion, meaning that the blood cannot drain out of the eye, that's a drainage problem.

So, let's pause for a second, and I've got a really silly picture here at the bottom of the slide.

If blood can't get in, what physical findings would you expect to see?

And if blood can't get out, what physical findings would you expect to see so taking

that one step further in the artery occlusion

you see a pale fundus with a cherry red spot in the vein occlusion you see hemorrhage

and edema now this should make sense to you

when we look at hemorrhage and edema if blood is pooling into the eye

and can't get out through the retinal vein there will be hemorrhage and there will be edema specifically of the optic disc.

And if we think about the pale fundus with the cherry red spot, because this is a supply problem, part of the eye is ischemic.

If you can't get blood to part of the eye, it will appear pale.

And that should make sense to you.

Now, as far as the cherry red spot goes, here's what you want to look for.

You see the black arrow here pointing to the cherry red spot.

And something that is important to understand here is

that you see the reason that the cherry red spot is cherry red at the center,

but then pale around it is because the fovea will stay red.

And the reason that the fovea stays red is that it gets its blood supply from the posterior ciliary arteries.

It does not get its blood supply from the central retinal artery.

So basically anything that is supplied from the central retinal artery will become pale because it's ischemic,

but anything that is supplied from the posterior ciliary arteries will appear well perfused because we don't have the blockage there.

Again, in a retinal artery occlusion, the occlusion is in the retinal artery or the central retinal artery.

And this is why the fovea will be a nice dark red color, but the surrounding tissue will be pale.

Now, let's contrast that to what you see in a retinal vein occlusion.

So in a retinal vein occlusion, you're looking for optic disc edema, so the optic disc would swell, and retinal hemorrhage.

And you can see, I hope you can appreciate the very stark contrast between these two pictures.

One is showing you hemorrhage and some swelling.

The other shows you that cherry red spot with the pale fundus.

And again, if you think about this as artery occlusion equals supply problem, it's ischemic, and vein equals drainage problem,

it's buildup and swelling and hemorrhage, this really should make sense to you.

Now on your exam, they're going to show you one of these pictures, like 90 % of the time.

They want you to be to pick out the cherry red spot, they want you to pick out the hemorrhage, and this is kind of basic.

So you really should commit this to memory.

But if you're looking at causes here,

the retinal artery occlusion typically is due to some type of thromboembolic event.

And the retinal vein occlusion is typically due to a compressive effect of nearby central retinal arteries having atherosclerosis.

So interestingly, in the retinal vein occlusion, it is truly that a nearby artery becomes atherosclerotic, and then that pushes up against the retinal vein,

which prevents the retinal vein from draining properly, hence the hemorrhage, hence the edema.

But in the retinal artery occlusion, the problem is inherent to whatever thromboembolic event takes place that occludes the actual central retinal artery itself.

And that's really important to understand.

So, I've gone through this video, and so far I would say

that I've covered much of what you probably need to know for the purposes of your exam.

Again, you want to be able to identify these pictures and know that the buzzwords pale fundus, cherry red spot equals artery occlusion,

retinal hemorrhage, and optic discodema equals vein occlusion.

But if you need a way to memorize this and pair these together, I always think about artery is red and vein is blue.

That's just how it is in my head, probably from years of studying this way.

So the way that I memorize this is when I think about a pale fundus with a cherry red spot,

pale to me pales like a bucket.

So I think about a bucket or a pale filled with cherries.

And then I associate pale fundus, cherry red spot with red,

you know, everything else by process of elimination would be a retinal vein.

So, this was quick, really to the point, but I want you to understand if you're blocking the artery, blood can't get in.

That's a supply problem.

So, you're looking for ischemic symptoms.

If the vein is occluded, blood can't get out.

That's a drainage problem.

You're looking for hemorrhage and edema type symptoms.

If you can keep that straight, then when you look at these images,

you can kind of guess based on which blood vessel looks more engorged versus which one looks more like a cherry.

So there you go.

Good luck.

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287 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Retinal Artery Occlusion vs. Retinal Vein Occlusion”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: retinal, artery, occlusion, vein, blood. This video has 77 sentences and 1105 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:33. The speaker talks at a natural 169 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 75% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
artery noun	/ˈɑɹ.təɹ.i/	Any of the muscular- and elastic-walled blood vessels forming part of the circulation system by which blood is conveyed away from the heart regardless of its…
vein noun	/veɪn/	A blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart.
cherry noun	/ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/	A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem.
pale adjective	/peɪl/	Light in color.
optic adjective	/ˈɑp.tɪk/	Of, or relating to the eye or to vision.
examination noun	/ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/	The act of examining.
disk noun	/dɪsk/	A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object.
drainage noun	/ˈdɹeɪnəd͡ʒ/	A natural or artificial means for the removal of fluids from a given area by its draining away.
swell verb	/swɛl/	To become larger, fuller, or rounder, or expand in size or shape, usually as a result of pressure from within.
contrast noun	/kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/	The degree of this difference.
hence adverb	/ˈhɛns/	In the future from now.
versus	/ˈvɝsəs/	Against; in opposition to.
bucket noun	/ˈbʌkɪt/	A container made of rigid material, often with a handle, used to carry liquids or small items.
drain noun	/dɹiːn/	A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
symptom noun	/ˈsɪm(p)təm/	A perceived change in some function, sensation or appearance of a person that indicates a disease or disorder, such as fever, headache or rash; strictly, a…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
get out verb	To leave or escape.
pick out verb	To remove by picking.
get back to verb	Return to (an activity)
get out of verb	To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
push up against verb	To generate pressure on (someone or something); to challenge.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is let · is blocked · is supplied
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've gone · I've covered

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 20 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, you're, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, contrast /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, tissue /ˈtɪʃ.(j)u/, elimination /ɪlɪmɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/
Long words — get the stress right: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, elimination /ɪlɪmɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/, ciliary /ˈsɪl.iˌɛɹ.i/, posterior /poʊˈstɪɹ.i.ɚ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like artery, vein, cherry.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Retinal Artery Occlusion vs. Retinal Vein Occlusion - Learn English Speaking with Video

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