Tamoxifen maculopathy: The importance of screening and long follow-up

We report a case of a patient treated with tamoxifen 20mg daily as hormone therapy for breast cancer. On regular ophthalmological follow-up, tamoxifen maculopathy was detected on SD-OCT (Spectral Domain Optic Coherence Tomography, Carl Zeiss Meditec®), so the medication was discontinued. Despite discontinuation of the medication, the maculopathy progressed over time. We have been following our patient for seven years. Tamoxifen may produce a toxic maculopathy which may progress despite discontinuation of the medication. We consider our case interesting, given the lengthy follow-up of the patient with sequential SD-OCT images. To the best of our knowledge, our case represents the longest follow-up period for a patient with tamoxifen maculopathy. Moreover, we would like to stress the importance of screening in asymptomatic patients on this medication, in order to detect early pathological signs.