Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography of retinal vessels in Waldenström's macroglobulinemia

Multimodal Imaging Characteristics and Risk Factors Analysis of Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Retinopathy

PURPOSE

To summarize the multimodal imaging features and analyze the risk factors of Waldenström macroglobulinemia retinopathy (WMR).

DESIGN

Retrospective, cross-sectional study.

METHODS

Patients diagnosed with WM and underwent ophthalmic examination in Peking Union Medical College Hospital in the last decade were included. Multimodal imaging characteristics of WMR were summarized. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis of WMR and potential systemic and ocular factors was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 50 patients with WM were included in this study, and 28 patients had WMR in at least 1 eye. WMR was found to have worse LogMAR visual acuity (0.52 ± 0.54 vs 0.21 ± 0.18, P = .009) and was characterized by tortuous retinal vessels, extensive retinal hemorrhage, distinctive shape of macular edema, and so on. In univariate analysis, the presence of WMR was significantly associated with the mean visual acuity (LogMAR), serum red blood cell counts, serum platelet counts, hemoglobin level, serum M protein, serum IgM level, and lactate dehydrogenase (with P < .05). In multivariate analysis, WMR was significantly correlated with M protein (adjusted odds ratio = 1.127, 95% CI: 1.052-1.209, P= .001) and serum IgM (adjusted odds ratio = 1.059, 95% CI: 1.023-1.095, P = .001) with the predicted areas under the curve of 0.859 and 0.820, respectively. The optimal cutoff values were 26.2 g/L for M protein and 51.0 g/L for IgM, which accounts for a sensitivity of 95.4% and 95.4% and specificity of 64.3% and 60.7%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

WMR has specific characteristics in ophthalmic examinations. Serum IgM levels and M protein are good predictors of WMR, which could attach important value of fundus examinations for patients with WM.

Optical Coherence Tomography of Peripapillary Vessels in Giant Cell Arteritis and Ischaemic Ocular Disease

With normal retinal blood flow, cross-sectional optical coherence tomography (OCT) of retinal vessels shows a structured intravascular reflectivity profile, resembling a 'figure-of-8'. Altered profiles have been reported in vascular occlusive and haematological diseases. Giant cell arteritis (GCA) can cause visual loss, usually due to anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (AION) or retinal artery occlusion. Our aim was to extend the assessment of OCT vascular profiles to patients with suspected GCA and to determine if any abnormalities were related to GCA per se or to ischaemic ocular conditions. This nested retrospective study included 61 eyes of 31 patients (13 with GCA). Six eyes had arteritic and seven eyes non-arteritic AION, three eyes had non-arteritic retinal artery occlusion, 11 eyes had other ocular conditions and 34 were unaffected control eyes. For each eye the appearance of structured intravascular profiles on peripapillary OCT was graded as present, partial, absent or uncertain. Non-presence of structured intravascular profiles was more frequent in AION and retinal artery occlusion than in other ocular conditions or unaffected eyes (Fisher's test, p = .0047). Based on follow-up of 25 eyes, reflectivity profiles normalised in three out of four eyes after 85 (35-245) days. Vessel profiles were not associated with GCA (p = .32) and were similar in arteritic and non-arteritic AION (p = .66). In conclusion, absence of structured intravascular reflectivity profiles may be a marker of acute ischaemia in the anterior optic nerve or inner retina. However, it did not seem specific for GCA. The prognostic value warrants further studies.