Rosanna Dammacco1, Walter Lisch2, Tero T Kivelä3, Evangelos Terpos4, Efstathios Kastritis4, Dario Sisto1, Alberto Mavilio5, Roberto Ria6, Giovanni Alessio1, Angelo Vacca6, Franco Dammacco6. 1. Department of Ophthalmology and Neuroscience, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Medical School, Bari, Italy. 2. Department of Ophthalmology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany. 3. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 4. Department of Clinical Therapeutics, National and Kapodistrian School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. 5. Social Health District, Glaucoma Center, Azienda Sanitaria Locale, Brindisi, Italy. 6. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Medical School, Bari, Italy.
Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the ocular manifestations in 91 Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM) patients. Methods: Retrospective, cross-sectional, observational analysis. Results: Ocular impairments, detected in 19 patients, included flame-shaped hemorrhages, venous sausaging, papilledema, macular detachments, or central retinal vein occlusion in 16 patients; paraproteinemic keratopathy in 2; and a CANOMAD syndrome in 1. Best-corrected visual acuity was ≥0.5 logMAR units in 11 of 38 eyes. Intraocular pressure was increased in seven eyes. Genetic analysis in seven patients showed a mutation in the MYD88 gene in six patients and a nonsense mutation in the CXCR4 gene in five patients. Plasmapheresis followed by chemotherapy with or without the addition of rituximab resulted in improvement or normalization of the ophthalmological findings in 15 patients. Conclusion: The ocular manifestations of WM are protean and potentially sight threatening. Recent advances in genomic profiling and chemotherapy have remarkably improved the hematological and ophthalmological outcomes of these patients.
Purpose: To investigate the ocular manifestations in 91 Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM) patients. Methods: Retrospective, cross-sectional, observational analysis. Results:Ocular impairments, detected in 19 patients, included flame-shaped hemorrhages, venous sausaging, papilledema, macular detachments, or central retinal vein occlusion in 16 patients; paraproteinemic keratopathy in 2; and a CANOMAD syndrome in 1. Best-corrected visual acuity was ≥0.5 logMAR units in 11 of 38 eyes. Intraocular pressure was increased in seven eyes. Genetic analysis in seven patients showed a mutation in the MYD88 gene in six patients and a nonsense mutation in the CXCR4 gene in five patients. Plasmapheresis followed by chemotherapy with or without the addition of rituximab resulted in improvement or normalization of the ophthalmological findings in 15 patients. Conclusion: The ocular manifestations of WM are protean and potentially sight threatening. Recent advances in genomic profiling and chemotherapy have remarkably improved the hematological and ophthalmological outcomes of these patients.