Abstract
Purpose: :
To report 10 female patients with sudden development of a unilateral retinopathy of uncertain etiology.
Methods: :
Cases were collected retrospectively from the records of 7 retina specialists. Age, gender, retinal findings, visual acuity, systemic diseases, medications and local ocular conditions were recorded. Imaging findings and visual outcomes over time were noted.
Results: :
All ten patients presented suddenly with decreased visual acuity and metamorphopsia. On clinical examination, the dilated fundus exam showed predominantly deep and sometimes superficial intraretinal hemorrhages. Optical coherence tomography showed outer retina cysts in the foveal area and a small amount of subretinal fluid on the edges of the hemorrhages. Visual acuity varied from 20/25 to finger counting. Age ranged from 29 to 83 year old, but most of the patients were young and healthy. No predisposing ocular or systemic conditions were found. No definite evidence of central retinal vein occlusion was found and the predominance of deeper hemorrhages seems against this diagnosis. With follow-up the vision improved to 20/20 to 20/60 at last follow-up. Subsequent follow-up showed one recurrence in one patient.
Conclusions: :
This unusual retinopathy with apparent spontaneous unilateral deep retinal hemorrhages remains unexplained and a new entity might be considered.
Keywords: retina • vascular occlusion/vascular occlusive disease