Retinal pigment epithelial tear after treatment of metastatic carcinoma of the choroid.

A 59-year-old woman developed a tear of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) shortly after receiving radiation therapy and chemotherapy for metastatic breast carcinoma to the choroid. If the RPE tear had not been observed during the early stage of its evolution, the subsequent coiled mass of RPE could have been easily mistaken for reactive hyperplasia. The location of the RPE tear relative to the choroidal metastasis and its temporal relationship to tumor involution suggest that the RPE tear and therapy for metastatic carcinoma were causally related. This is the first description of an RPE tear overlying a metastatic tumor.