UNUSUAL SEROUS RETINAL DETACHMENT IN A PATIENT WITH WALDENSTROM MACROGLOBULINEMIA: A CASE REPORT

Hyperviscosity Retinopathy Due to Waldenström Macroglobulinemia: A Case Report and Literature Review

Purpose:

This case report describes a case of hyperviscosity retinopathy secondary to the rare systemic hematologic malignant neoplasm Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

Methods:

Fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and OCT angiography were used as imaging modalities to characterize this pathology.

Results:

A 51-year-old man presented with hyperviscosity retinopathy and uniquely angiographically silent serous macular detachment. Over a 6-month period, he was treated with systemic and local therapies with little improvement in the hyperviscosity retinopathy, serous macular detachments, or visual acuity.

Conclusions:

Hyperviscosity retinopathy secondary to Waldenström macroglobulinemia presents a challenge to treating ophthalmologists given its rarity and the range of treatment responses described in the literature. Our patient’s lack of response to antivascular endothelial growth factor and normal findings in OCT angiography and fluorescein angiography suggested the mechanism of subretinal fluid accumulation was not vascular endothelial growth factor mediated. Visual prognosis was guarded.

Serous business: Delineating the broad spectrum of diseases with subretinal fluid in the macula

A wide range of ocular diseases can present with serous subretinal fluid in the macula and therefore clinically mimic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). In this manuscript, we categorise the diseases and conditions that are part of the differential diagnosis into 12 main pathogenic subgroups: neovascular diseases, vitelliform lesions, inflammatory diseases, ocular tumours, haematological malignancies, paraneoplastic syndromes, genetic diseases, ocular developmental anomalies, medication-related conditions and toxicity-related diseases, rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and tractional retinal detachment, retinal vascular diseases, and miscellaneous diseases. In addition, we describe 2 new clinical pictures associated with macular subretinal fluid accumulation, namely serous maculopathy with absence of retinal pigment epithelium (SMARPE) and serous maculopathy due to aspecific choroidopathy (SMACH). Differentiating between these various diseases and CSC can be challenging, and obtaining the correct diagnosis can have immediate therapeutic and prognostic consequences. Here, we describe the key differential diagnostic features of each disease within this clinical spectrum, including representative case examples. Moreover, we discuss the pathogenesis of each disease in order to facilitate the differentiation from typical CSC.