White-centred retinal hemorrhage revealing acute leukemia

Acute leukemias are a heterogeneous group of hematological malignancies (blood cancers) that are rapidly life-threatening in the absence of treatment. They constitute a diagnostic and therapeutic emergency. Ocular manifestations are more frequent but less revealing of the disease, most often as a result of tumor invasion from the central nervous system .Other manifestations are secondary to bone marrow failure.

We report the case of a 17-year-old patient without any medical history hospitalized for pulmonary infection presenting a brutal and bilateral reduced vision. The examination of eye fundus finds white-centered retinal hemorrhages The etiological assessment confirms the diagnosis of acute leukemia. A treatment based on chemotherapy allowed a complete remission.

white-centered retinal hemorrhage is rarely revealing acute leukemias It may be related to a medullary insufficiency or leukemic infiltrates constituting a sign of bad prognosis.

A complete ophthalmological examination and a serious and wide etiological investigation are needed to help the discovery of whitecentred retinal hemorrhage. Acute leukemia is one of the most serious etiologies.