Cancer-associated retinopathy during treatment for small-cell lung carcinoma

A 70-year-old woman with small-cell lung carcinoma (c-T4N2M0) was treated by six courses of combination chemotherapy (carboplatin and etoposide). After two weeks, she complained of a sense of darkness and night blindness. A Western blot analysis showed that the patient's serum bound with the recombinant 23-kDa retinal cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) antigen at 1:1,000 dilution. Her visual acuity became so poor that she could only recognise a hand motion at 50 cm despite treatment with corticosteroids and combination chemotherapy. The patient was diagnosed as having a rare type of CAR because CAR is usually found before the diagnosis of primary cancer.