Neoplasia and intraocular inflammation: From masquerade syndromes to immunotherapy-induced uveitis

Abstract

Masquerade syndromes represent a large set of ophthalmological entities that mimic inflammatory conditions. Any delay in their diagnosis may be correlated with systemic dissemination or worsening of the causal disease and, therefore, with poor prognosis. One of the disadvantages of the new potent treatments of uveitis is the delay that they can induce in the diagnosis of neoplastic intraocular infiltrations. Thorough and careful clinical examination of all patients referred for uveitis, especially when they are Caucasian, over 50 years of age, and with posterior segment involvement, is of paramount importance in this context. Ancillary investigations and often-invasive histo-pathologic evaluation of tissue specimens or ocular fluids are regularly required in these situations. The most common masquerade syndrome is primary vitreoretinal lymphoma (PVRL). New molecular diagnostic tools may be helpful in challenging cases lacking cytological confirmation. Therapeutic strategies targeting tumoral cells in the eye and also in the central nervous system can improve the life expectancy of affected patients. In this review, we discuss diagnostic strategies and current therapies in PVRL and provide an overview of other conditions that can mimic primary ocular inflammation, especially in the field of oncology and its new therapeutic armamentarium.

Keywords: Amyloidosis; Cancer associated retinopathy; Leukemia; Lymphoma; Masquerade syndromes; Melanoma associated retinopathy; Retinoblastoma.