Abstract
Purpose :
The biological agents are substances derived from living organisms that have recently found wide applications in medicine. However, they are a relatively new category of drugs and our knowledge about their side effects is limited. This retrospective, observational study reviews the ocular sequelae of these agents in patients who presented to the ophthalmology clinic of our tertiary center.
Methods :
Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board. A search of the electronic medical record was conducted to identify adult patients being treated with biologic agents for various types of malignancy who presented for ophthalmic evaluation. The patients were either referred for routine screening or presented with visual/ocular complaints between 1/1/2010 and 2/2/2015 (61 months). For the current study we analyzed the charts of patients who were treated with biologic agents including: interferon, leukine, ipilimumab, mirvetuximab, soravtensine and trastuzumab.
Results :
From the 1000 charts that were analyzed, 11 patients had ocular side effects while on biologic agents and met the inclusion criteria. Ten of these patients (10/11 or 91%) were symptomatic. The most frequent visual complaint was mild to moderate vision loss (8/10 or 80%). The most common medication in this category was interferon (6/11 or 55%) and the most common finding in these patients was cotton wool spots (4/6 or 67%). For patients with adequate follow up, discontinuation of the medication lead to resolution of the symptoms in the majority of cases (6/8 or 75%).
Conclusions :
The current study describes the ocular symptoms and signs in patients treated systemically with biologic agents at our university hospital. In the majority of cases, discontinuation of the medication lead to resolution of symptoms. Further studies are needed to elucidate the incidence and pathophysiology of these side effects, something that could lead to optimal screening and treatment guidelines for these patients.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.