Clinical features of cancer-associated retinopathy

Objective

To analyze the clinical features of cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR).

Methods

The clinical data of 10 patients who diagnosed as CAR during 5 years were retrospectively analyzed.All patients underwent detailed ocular examinations, including electroretinogram (ERG), optical coherence tomography (OCT), visual field (VF) and autofluorescence(AF).

Results

The primary malignancy was lung carcinoma in 3 patients, thymoma in 3 patients, thyroid carcinoma in 1 patients, maxillary sinus tumor in 1 patients, nasopharyngeal carcinoma in 1 patients and rectal cancer in 1 patients.All patients complained progressive visual reducing.Three patients manifested night blindness.The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA)<0.1 was in three eyes, ≤0.1-<0.5 in seven eyes, and ≥0.5 in ten eyes.Patients showed normal fundi or mild abnormality.OCT images showed disorganization and/or loss of the ellipsoid zone in the macular area in 4 patients, and other six patients had only central foveal ellipsoid zone preserved.Eight patients had moderately or severely reduced ffERG, and 2 patients demonstrated electro-negative ERG.Five patients revealed peripheral visual defect.AF images were from normal to low or high AF patches in the posterior pole and mid-peripheral retina.

Conclusions

The clinical manifestations of CAR are varied as common characteristics of progressive visual decrease with or without night blindness, visual field defect and abnormal ffERG recording.