Diffuse retinal capillary leakage in coats disease

Coats disease is a rare condition characterized by retinal vascular telangiectasia, aneurysms, and leakage from these abnormal blood vessels. We report the phenomenon and treatment of Coats disease with diffuse hyperpermeability from angiographically normal retinal capillaries.

This case series describes two patients with Coats disease, diagnosed based on fundus photography and fluorescein angiography. The first patient was treated with intravitreal bevacizumab and limited laser photocoagulation. The second patient was treated only with limited photocoagulation.

The diffuse exudation from normal retinal capillaries resolved with treatment of the focal primary vascular Coats lesions.

Vasculopathies such as Coats disease may produce diffuse hyperpermeability of otherwise normal capillaries in the fundus. Limiting treatment only to the primary Coats lesions is a minimally invasive strategy that preserves normal capillaries.