Bone Marrow Transplantation Retinopathy in a Patient with Acute Lymophocytic Leukemia Following Bone Marrow Transplantation

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To report a case in of a patient who developed bone marrow transplantation retinopathy at 18 months after receiving allograft bone marrow transplantation for acute lymphocytic leukemia. CASE SUMMARY: A 20-year-old male patient complained of a decrease in visual activity in his left eye 18 months after receiving a bone marrow transplantation for acute lymphocytic leukemia. The corrected visual activity was 1.0 for the right eye and 0.6 for the left. On fundus examination, both eyes showed cotton wool patches and dot hemorrhage, and the left eye showed macula edema. On fluorescein angiography, capillary nonperfusion was observed in the superior nasal area of the left eye. Four months after initial examination, the corrected visual activity of the left eye decreased to 0.3 and neovascularization was observed on fundus examination. On fluorescein angiography, capillary nonperfusion, neovascularization, and macular ischemia were observed. Laser photocoagulation was performed twice on the area with neovascularization and capillary nonperfusion. One year later, the corrected visual activity of the left eye recovered to 0.8. However, the area of macular ischemia on fluorescein angiography showed no change, and neovascularization and capillary nonperfusion were observed in new areas, which were treated with two additional laser photocoagulations.