Lesions simulating retinoblastoma (pseudoretinoblastoma) in 604 cases: results based on age at presentation

To determine the types and frequency of ocular conditions that simulate retinoblastoma (pseudoretinoblastoma) based on age at presentation.

Retrospective case series.

Two thousand seven hundred seventy-five patients.

Chart review.

Conditions simulating retinoblastoma.

Of 2775 patients referred for management of retinoblastoma, 2171 patients (78%) had confirmed retinoblastoma and 604 patients (22%) had simulating lesions (pseudoretinoblastomas). In the pseudoretinoblastoma cohort, the mean patient age at presentation was 4 years (median, 2 years). There were 27 different pseudoretinoblastoma conditions, and the 10 most common included Coats' disease (n = 244; 40%), persistent fetal vasculature (PFV; n = 158; 28%), vitreous hemorrhage (n = 27; 5%), ocular toxocariasis (n = 22; 4%), familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR; n = 18; 3%), rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (n = 18; 3%), coloboma (n = 17; 3%), astrocytic hamartoma (n = 15; 2%), combined hamartoma of retina and retinal pigment epithelium (n = 15; 2%), and endogenous endophthalmitis (n = 10; 2%). Simulating lesions differed based on age at presentation, and children younger than 1 year were most likely to have PFV (49%), Coats' disease (20%), or vitreous hemorrhage (7%); those 2 to 5 years of age were most likely to have Coats' disease (61%), toxocariasis (8%), or PFV (7%); and those older than 5 years were most likely to have Coats' disease (57%), toxocariasis (8%), or FEVR (6%).

The most common pseudoretinoblastomas include Coats' disease, PFV, and vitreous hemorrhage, but the spectrum varies depending on patient age.