Reversible Choriocapillaris Flow Voids in Acute Syphilitic Posterior Placoid Chorioretinitis

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To report two cases of acute syphilitic posterior placoid chorioretinitis (ASPPC) with choriocapillaris flow voids that partially resolved with systemic antibiotic treatment.

Methods

Observational case report with multimodal imaging

Results

Two young healthy men suffered an acute monocular loss of vision. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and OCT angiography (OCT-A) revealed outer retinitis with loss of the ellipsoid layer and choriocapillaris flow voids. Systemic work-up revealed syphilis. Upon systemic treatment with antibiotics, the patients recovered their vision and the OCT and OCT-A abnormalities partially resolved.

Conclusions

Transient choriocapillaris flow voids characterize ASPPC and may be responsible for the visual loss seen in these patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Syphilis
• uveitis
• acute syphilitic posterior placoid chorioretinitis
• syphilitic outer retinitis
• choriocapillaris flow voids
• OCT-A

Consent

Both patients signed consent to the inclusion of material pertaining to themselves, and they acknowledge that they cannot be identified via the paper and that the authors have fully anonymized them.

Disclosures

Lihteh Wu has received lecture fees from Quantel Medical and Bayer. Teodoro Evans and Mia Mikowski have no relevant financial interests.