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Review
. 2013 Dec 24:7:69-77.
doi: 10.2147/OTT.S54606.

Ocular side effects of biological agents in oncology: what should the clinician be aware of?

Tobias Hager  1 , B Seitz  1
Affiliations
Review

Ocular side effects of biological agents in oncology: what should the clinician be aware of?

Tobias Hager et al. Onco Targets Ther. .

Abstract

During the last 20 years, biologicals have become increasingly relevant in oncologic therapy. Depending on the medication used, there are different profiles of ocular side effects. Although these can be present in up to 70% of patients, they are generally underreported in the literature. Therefore, the pathophysiological details of their development are often poorly understood. Herein we attempt to identify groups of biologicals to which a specific side effect profile can be assigned. We also tried to capture all relevant side effects and therefore conducted several database investigation including Medline, Cochrane library, and the drugs section of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), using the following search strings: "name of biological agent (both generic and commercial names)" AND "eye" OR "ocular". If we found a side effect that has been associated with a drug, we researched Medline using the following search string: "name of biological agent" (both generic and commercial names) AND "term for the specific side effect". Due to the wealth of material we report only the drugs that are approved by the FDA.

Keywords: EGFR; biological; interferon; ocular side effect; targeted therapy.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Swollen eyelids on both sides. The lids have a reddish tint despite the rather pale complexion of the patient. At the same time, there is a conjunctival hyperemia, temporally in the right eye and nasally in the left eye. However, conjunctival hyperemia is not a drug effect, but is due to the development of a pseudopterygium (right eye at 8:00 on the cornea).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Slight periorbital edema, not inducing ptosis or dermatochalasis, no treatment necessary.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Horizontal scan with optical coherence tomography through the fovea. The foveal depression shows several hyperreflective structures as a sign of crystalline retinopathy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Patient during interferon therapy. (A) At first presentation, two cotton-wool spots; (B) after 6 weeks, line-shaped retinal hemorrhage at a cotton-wool spot and visual disturbances (progression of interferon retinopathy); (C) 4 weeks after discontinuation of therapy, the findings have completely regressed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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