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Case Reports
. 2017 Jun 19;17(1):430.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-017-3429-8.

Retinal and vitreous metastases from hepatocholangiocarcinoma

Anna Praidou  1 , Sarita Jacob  2 , Luciane Irion  3 , Ramesh Sivaraj  2 , Carl Groenewald  4 , Sarah E Coupland  3 , Heinrich Heimann  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Retinal and vitreous metastases from hepatocholangiocarcinoma

Anna Praidou et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: To report a case of metastatic hepatocholangiocarcinoma to the vitreous and retina.

Case presentation: A 70-year-old male, who was recently diagnosed with hepatocholangiocarcinoma, was complaining of floaters in his right eye over the past 5 months and was referred to the Liverpool Ocular Oncology Centre. On presentation, his visual acuity in the right eye was 6/24. Fundus exam revealed a whitish, unilateral, full-thickness retinal lesion at the inferotemporal arcade of his right eye, with vitreous infiltration and subretinal fluid. The patient underwent 25G pars plana vitrectomy with biopsy, resection of the lesion and intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Histopathology testing of the surgical specimens confirmed the diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma to the eye. Two months postoperatively his visual acuity had improved to 6/7.5 and there was no sign of active disease in his right eye, while 9 months postoperatively his visual acuity decreased to 6/9.5 due to developing nuclear sclerotic cataract in his right eye.

Conclusion: The current report presents the first case of a hepatocholangiocarcinoma metastasis to the vitreous and retina.

Keywords: Eye; Hepatocholangiocarcinoma; Metastases; Metastasis; Retina; Vitreous.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Colour wide angle fundus picture of the right eye of the patient at presentation showed a single whitish elevated lesion at the infero-temporal arcade associated with vitreous infiltration and retinal fluid, b Spectral Domain OCT of the right macula of the patient at presentation showing intraretinal and subretinal fluid, c Spectral Domain OCT through the lesion at presentation showing full thickness retinal lesion with vitreous involvement d Colour wide angle fundus picture of the right eye of the patient two months postoperatively showed clear vitreous, no new retinal lesion and no signs of any active eye disease, e Spectral Domain OCT of the right macula of the patient two months postoperatively showing complete regression of the retinal fluid, f Spectral Domain OCT through the lesion two months postoperatively showing total anatomical restoration of the retinal layers
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Histopathology examination of retinal and vitreous specimens established the diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma; a Cytology preparation stained with May-Grunwald Giemsa stain (MGG) showing groups of atypical epithelioid cells, some of which with cytoplasmic vacuolation; b Immunocytochemistry demonstrating cytoplasmic and membranous expression of tumour cells by pan-epithelial marker AE1/AE3 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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