A case of Acute Myeloid Leukemia masquerading as unilateral exudative detachment

Leukemias can involve almost every part of the human eye. Ophthalmic manifestations of leukemias can be divided into direct infiltration, secondary vascular changes and neuro-ophthalmological changes. Our case presented with exudative retinal detachment mimicking Vogt Koyanagi Harada's disease (VKH).

A 30-years old Asian (Indian) female presented with insidious onset of painless diminution of vision from her right eye for one month. She gave history of fever and severe headache at the time of onset of ocular symptoms. Fundus examination revealed exudative retinal detachment at the posterior pole of her right eye. Fundus fluorescein angiography showed early stippled pin point hyperfluorescence, placoid pooling of the dye and late disc staining in both the eyes. A provisional diagnosis of Vogt Koyanagi Harada disease was made and routine blood investigations and a physician check-up for fitness for systemic steroids was done. Peripheral blood smear showed the presence of blast cells. The patient was diagnosed to have Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and was started on chemotherapy.

Acute myeloid leukemia can present as an exudative retinal detachment and can mimic similarly presenting conditions like VKH. Hence, this very important differential diagnosis should be kept in mind and it stresses the importance of simple laboratory investigations like whole and differential blood counts.