A case of bilateral vasculitis associated with pineal germinoma

To report a rare case of bilateral periphlebitis associated with a pineal germinoma.

A 17-year-old male teenager presented at a local clinic complaining of blurred vision in both eyes. The treating physician identified bilateral uveitis, and prescribed the patient with a local steroid treatment. However, the inflammatory findings did not improve with the treatment, and the patient was referred to our hospital for further examination. At the first visit, his best-corrected visual acuities were 0.3 for the right eye and 0.06 for the left eye; we found no inflammation in the anterior ocular segment, but observed bilateral retinal periphlebitis and a proliferative membrane from the papilla to the macula in the ocular fundus. In addition, we found a tractional serous retinal detachment in the macula. We suspected tuberculous uveitis clinically and initiated treatment with an antituberculous drug. However, the condition of the patient did not improve. Two months after our initial examination, left optic neuritis appeared, and we initiated a steroid pulse therapy. Although the periphlebitis remained, the left optic nerve findings and the visual acuity of both eyes improved. Thus, we reduced the oral steroid dose gradually. However, two months after initiating the dose reduction, the patient suffered a consciousness disturbance, and we detected a pineal tumor by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The patient was diagnosed as having a germ cell tumor by pathological examination and underwent radiation and chemotherapy. We noted marked improvements in both the periphlebitis findings and in the visual acuity following the treatment for the pineal tumor.

Cases of pineal tumor accompanied with retinal periphlebitis have been reported rarely. Because juvenile retinal vasculitis cases of unknown cause can be associated with pineal germinomas, we recommend brain MRI examinations for such cases.