Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2023 Oct 6;14(1):498-506.
doi: 10.1159/000533769. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

Unilateral Melanoma-Associated Retinopathy Case Report

Reinout Peeters  1   2 , Freya Peeters  1   2 , Julie Jacob  1   2 , Dafina Draganova  3 , Ingele Casteels  1   2 , Koen Poesen  4   5 , Irina Balikova  1   2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Unilateral Melanoma-Associated Retinopathy Case Report

Reinout Peeters et al. Case Rep Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

In this report, we present a case of unilateral melanoma-associated retinopathy in a 72-year-old woman. The patient's main symptoms were decreased vision and positive dysphotopsia. Unilateral electronegative electroretinogram (ERG) was suggestive for melanoma retinopathy. PET-CT discovered metastatic disease, 3 years after the initial melanoma. A prompt treatment with corticosteroids was started, followed by immunotherapy. The central and peripheral vision of the patient improved, and the ERG showed normalization of the responses. This case highlights the importance of early recognition and individualized treatment strategies for melanoma-associated retinopathy.

Keywords: Antiretinal antibodies; Autoimmune retinopathy; Electronegative electroretinogram; Melanoma-associated retinopathy; Paraneoplastic syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Fundus photography showing vascular attenuation and retinal pigment mottling. a Right eye. b Left eye.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
OCT scan showing foveal disruption of ellipsoid and interdigitation zone. a Right eye. b Left eye.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Fluorescein angiography. a Early arteriovenous phase (right eye). b Late venous phase (right eye). c Late venous phase (left eye).
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Octopus perimetry showing general visual field depression in both eyes.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Full-field ERG showing an electronegative ERG reflecting inner retinal dysfunction in the right eye.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
PET-CT scan showing uptake of FDG glucose of the regional distant lymph node at the right-sided iliac lymph node chain, indicated by the arrow.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.
Octopus perimetry showing improvement of the visual field defects of both eyes with persisting arcuate scotoma in the upper sector.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 8.
Full-field ERG after peroral glucocorticoid treatment showing recuperation of b-wave in the right eye.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Keltner JL, Thirkill CE, Yip PT. Clinical and immunologic characteristics of melanoma-associated retinopathy syndrome: eleven new cases and a review of 51 previously published cases. J Neuro Ophthalmol. Sep. 2001;21(3):173–87. 10.1097/00041327-200109000-00004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Adamus G. “Are anti-retinal autoantibodies a cause or a consequence of retinal degeneration in autoimmune retinopathies?” Front Immunol. 2018;9:765. 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00765. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Varin J, Reynolds MM, Bouzidi N, Tick S, Wohlschlegel J, Becquart O, et al. . Identification and characterization of novel TRPM1 autoantibodies from serum of patients with melanoma-associated retinopathy. PLoS One. 2020;15(4):e0231750. 10.1371/journal.pone.0231750. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Duvoisin RM, Haley TL, Ren G, Strycharska-Orczyk I, Bonaparte JP, Morgans CW. Autoantibodies in melanoma-associated retinopathy recognize an epitope conserved between TRPM1 and TRPM3. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. Jun. 2017;58(5):2732–8. 10.1167/iovs.17-21443. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Elsheikh S, Gurney SP, Burdon MA. Melanoma-associated retinopathy. Clin Exp Dermatol. Mar. 2020;45(2):147–52. 10.1111/ced.14095. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types