Bilateral serous retinal detachments following organ transplantation

The authors report the physiopathogenetic features of bilateral serous neurosensory retinal detachments occurring in patients who have undergone organ transplantation.

The clinical and photographic findings of four patients who have undergone renal (3 cases) and liver (1 case) transplantation in whom bilateral serous retinal detachment developed early after surgery were reviewed. The patients were processed for clinical symptoms, visual acuity evaluation, slitlamp and fundus examinations, tonometry and fluorescein angiography.

Ocular examination, in patients complaining of blurred vision and metamorphopsia, revealed loss of visual acuity, bullous serous neurosensory retinal detachment with retinal pigment epithelial detachments in fundus examination and areas of dye leakage in fluorescein angiography, despite tonometry and slitlamp examination were unremarkable. These alterations were spontaneously resolved with the normalization of renal function.

The only common factor in each of the four patients resulted in alterations of the kidney function. This finding provides further evidence that renal failure may cause alterations in electrolytes extracellular distribution, leading to the formation of serous neurosensory retinal detachments.