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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

An Organotypic High Throughput System for Characterization of Drug Sensitivity of Primary Multiple Myeloma Cells
Published on: July 15, 2015
Multiple myeloma masquerading as diabetic macular oedema
Kavitha Rao1, Hemanth Murthy1, N S Muralidhar1
1Department of Vitreoretina, Retina Institute of Karnataka, Bengaluru, India.
Abstract:
A 58-year-old man, a known diabetic and hypertensive for 5 years was presented to us with a drop in reading vision in both eyes of 2 months duration. His best-corrected visual acuity was 6/24, N36 in both eyes. Fundus findings revealed moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy with bilateral diffuse macular oedema. When conventional therapy with intravitreal ranibizumab did not alter the clinical picture, we looked into the differential diagnosis of bilateral persistent macular detachments and investigated further. Haematological tests revealed severe anaemia with pancytopenia, which prompted further investigations including a bone marrow biopsy confirming a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Chemotherapy gradually caused resolution of the macular detachments at 8 months follow-up. This report illustrates that a high index of suspicion regarding systemic condition is required in certain cases presenting as diabetic macular oedema, but not responding to the conventional treatment.
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