[Melanoma-associated retinopathy with unknown primary site in a Japanese woman]

We report the clinical features of the first case of a Japanese person with melanoma-associated retinopathy.

A 44-year-old woman complained of photopsia and blurred vision in her right eye, and was treated with steroids for uveitis by an ophthalmologist. She was referred to our hospital for further examination. After one month of treatment, she still complained of photopsia in her right eye. The best corrected visual acuity in the right eye was 0.8 and these was sensitivity loss in the central visual field test. Ophthalmoscopy and fluorescein angiography showed some retinal vasculitis in the right eye. A full-field electroretinogram demonstrated a negative-type electroretinogram (ERG) waveform with attenuation of the b-wave amplitude in the right eye. A dark adaptation test revealed sensitivity loss of the rods. The lymph nodes on the right side of her neck were examined and the diagnosis was made of metastic cutaneous melanoma with unknown primary site; her visual dysfunction was diagnosed as melanoma-associated retinopathy. The retinal inflammation improved after steroid treatment, but her visual dysfunction remained. Chemotherapy and an immunotherapy regimen was begun, but 36 months later she died of metastatic melanoma in the lungs.

A woman treated for uveitis without any prior systemic and ocular diseases was diagnosed with melanoma-associated retinopathy and metastatic melanoma in the cervical lymph nodes of unknown primary origin. The first ocular symptoms were photopsia and blurred vision, not night blindness. ERG was useful for diagnosing this rare ocular condition in an early stage.