Retinal vasculitis caused by adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma

To report a case of lymphomatous infiltration and bilateral retinal vasculitis observed among 83 cases of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) treated in the University Hospital Center in Fort-de-France (Martinique, French West Indies) between 1984 and 2003.

A complete clinical ophthalmologic examination was performed in this patient along with fluorescein angiography.

After being checked for diffuse adenopathies, myodesopsias, and phosphenes, the 35-year-old patient was diagnosed with ATL. The ocular impairment, present since the onset of ATL as peripheral subretinal infiltrates, spread progressively and afferently to the rest of the retina in the form of an essentially venous vasculitis. Impairment of the vitreous was noted only in the end stages of disease progression. As ocular lesions progressed, the general state of the patient degraded at the same time despite chemotherapeutic measures.

Among the more than 300 seropositive for human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) or patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis treated at our hospital in the last 20 years, and among the 83 cases of ATL, only this single case of retinal vasculitis associated with HTLV-1 was observed (1/83, 1.2%) in Martinique, confirming the geographic variability of the clinical phenotype of HTLV-1 infection. The incidence of retinal vasculitis in ATL patients may signify an even worse prognosis than initially indicated.