Bilateral Occlusive Vasculitis Associated with Retinitis Pigmentosa - A Case Report

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To report a case of bilateral occlusive vasculitis associated with retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

Method

Case report.

Case report

A 34-year male presented with blurred vision in left eye (OS) for two weeks and right eye (OD) for one day. He had night blindness for five years. His best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was OD 20/63 and OS 20/200. Ophthalmoscopy revealed bilateral RP with OD inflammatory central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) and OS occlusive vasculitis with bilateral macular edema. Presumed intraocular tuberculosis (IOTB) was suspected based on clinical features, positive Mantoux and high-resolution computed tomography chest findings. Oral steroids and antitubercular therapy (ATT) were started. OD received six intravitreal ranibizumab injections. At his 7-month follow-up, BCVA improved, OD 20/40 and OS 20/80.

Conclusion

RP rarely can be associated with presumed IOTB. Oral steroids with ATT are helpful; however, in inflammatory CRVO, intravitreal ranibizumab can give good results.

KEYWORDS:

• Retinitis pigmentosa
• tuberculous vasculitis
• ranibizumab
• CME
• IOTB

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Patient consent

Written consent to publish this case has not been obtained as this report does not contain any personal identifying information.

Summary

We report a case of 34-year male with bilateral retinitis pigmentosa and presumed tuberculous vasculitis with inflammatory central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) in one eye. Oral steroids and ATT gave good results. However, intravitreal ranibizumab was a useful adjunct to systemic therapy in managing macular edema due to inflammatory CRVO in RP eyes.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.