Purpose:
To evaluate the clinical picture and treatment of vasoproliferative retinal tumors (VPRT) diagnosed and treated at Örebro University Hospital, Sweden, between 2002 and 2007.
Methods:
Ten patients with VPRT were included in a retrospective study . The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 51.5 years. Follow-up time ranged between 3 and 71 months (mean 30.7). Two patients had, in addition to VPRT, also systemic diseases. Three patients had multiple tumors, one of which had bilateral tumors. Four patients had secondary tumors due to an underlying ocular condition. Eleven eyes of ten patients were treated with cryotherapy. Seven underwent vitrectomy due to epiretinal membranes. Three eyes were treated with photocoagulation and one patient, in addition to cryotherapy, received intravitreal injections of ranibizumab (LucentisR).
Results:
Of the treated eyes, one had anterior uveitis, seven had macular oedema, four had, at the time of diagnosis, an exsudative retinal detachment.and seven developed epiretinal membranes. Visual acuity at diagnosis was as a mean 0.21 and at last check-up 0.29, with significant improvement in seven eyes, unchanged in two eyes and deterioration in two. Two out of four patients were successfully treated due to retinal detachment.
Conclusions:
VPRT are benign intraretinal changes.Several complications are associated with this condition. All patients in this material had symptom-giving tumors and eight patients had already at presentation profound macular oedema. In these cases the final visual prognosis is poor, thereby making it important to detect these tumours early. Whether or not anti-VEGF is effective either as an alternative or complementary therapy has to be established. The patient in this study having received this therapy showed some improvement, however not a complete regression of exsudations during the short follow-up period.
Keywords: vitreoretinal surgery • tumors • inflammation