Retinal Arterial Macroaneurysms

ABSTRACT

Retinal arterial macroaneurysm may be presented with diverse clinical manifestations, such as various types of hemorrhage, exudate, edema or serous detachment especially in the elderly patients. Correct diagnosis can sometimes be difficult. A high index of suspicion is always required, and the characteristic findings of fluorescein angiography are useful for the correct diagnosis. Especially it is inevitably revealed as extrafoveal round hyperfluorescence on indocyanine green angiography(ICGA) which has recently become a useful tool in hemorrhagic and exudative disease, and can be misinterpreted as hot spot in choroidal neovascularization(CNV). So it may be misdiagnosed and treated as CNV associated with age-related macular degeneration(AMD), and the risk of branch retinal artery occlusion will be increased. We experienced four cases of retinal arterial macroaneurysms that showed various types of hemorrhagic and exudative change, and one case with serous retinal detachment. Two of these cases were misdiagnosed and treated as CNV associated with AMD, and branch retinal artery occlusion was developed in one of them. In the case presented with serous retinal detachment, it revealed as mass like lesion adjacent to the optic disc, and differential diagnosis with vascualr tumors was necessary. Our purpose is calling attention to the possibility of retinal arterial macroaneurysm in the diagnosis of various hemorrhagic and exudative lesions, especially in the elderly patients with hypertension.