Reactions 859 - 7 Jul 2001

SInterferon-α-2a

Retinopathy in a patient with type 1 diabetesmellitus and hypertension: case report

Irreversible retinopathy developed in a 16-year-old boy withtype 1 diabetes mellitus and hypertension while receivingtreatment with interferon-α-2a for hepatitis B virus infection.

The boy had been receiving interferon-α-2a 6MU everysecond day for approximately 2 months when he presentedwith a 1-month history of painless visual deterioration in botheyes. His vision was 20/200 and 20/400 in his right and lefteyes, respectively. An examination disclosed the presence ofbilateral cotton-wool spots, extensive intraretinalmicrovascular abnormalities, and scattered areas ofneovascularisation involving the disk, retina and other areas. Afluorescein angiogram revealed diffuse microvascular leakageand neovascularisation of the optic nerve and retina. There wasalso widespread capillary dropout outside the macula.

Treatment with interferon-α-2a was discontinued. The boy’scotton-wool spots and haemorrhage resolved, but thevasculopathy persisted and bilateral neovascular glaucomadeveloped. He underwent extensive photocoagulative andsurgical interventions but, despite this, his visual acuitydecreased to light perception and no light perception in theright and left eye, respectively, due to massive fibrovascularproliferation.Willson RL, et al. Interferon-associated retinopathy in a young, insulin-dependentdiabetic patient. Retina 20: 413-415, No. 4, 2000 - USA 807205012

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Reactions 7 Jul 2001 No. 8590114-9954/10/0859-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved