A Case of Nonparaneoplastic Autoimmune Retinopathy

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To report a case of nonparaneoplastic autoimmune retinopathy diagnosed using serum anti-retinal autoantibodies. CASE SUMMARY: A 60-year-old female complained of progressive visual loss in both eyes over 3 months. Her best corrected visual acuity was hand motion in the right eye, 0.9 (decimal) in the left eye, and no definite abnormal findings were identified on fundus examinations. Automated visual field test revealed severely depressed visual fields in both eyes. Standard full-field electroretinogram (ERG) revealed nearly extinguished scotopic b-waves and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) showed subtle obscuration and interruption of the inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) junction of the photoreceptors. Using Western blotting with human retinal proteins and the patient's serum, we diagnosed nonparaneoplastic autoimmune retinopathy and performed posterior subtenon steroid injection in the right eye, systemic corticosteroids, and oral mycophenolate mofetil. Full-field ERG after treatment showed slightly increased amplitude but there was no subjective visual improvement. OCT after treatment did not reveal significant changes in the photoreceptor layer. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first reported case of nonparaneoplastic autoimmune retinopathy in Korea diagnosed using Western blotting with anti-retinal autoantibodies. Autoimmune retinopathy should be considered in patients with visual field and ERG impairment without definite fundus abnormalities.