Retinal vein occlusion in solid organ transplant recipients. Study of 4 cases and literature review

Although retinal venous obstruction (RVO) has been primarily related to vascular risk factors and glaucoma, there are a few studies of RVO in patients with solid organ transplants. An analysis was performed on total of 331 patients who presented with RVO (branch RVO in 226 cases and central RVO in 105 cases) over a 10 year period, and the characteristics were compared with the 4 patients with a history of solid organ transplant (liver, renal, or bipulmonary) who presented with RVO. In this series, the onset of RVO in transplant patients occurred at earlier ages than in other patients with RVO (58 vs. 68 years, respectively), affected the central vein of the retina (100% vs. 32%), and was associated with diabetes mellitus (75% vs. 25%), as well as with steroidal (100% vs. 1%) and immunosuppressive (tacrolimus 75% vs. 0%) treatments.