Choroidal neovascularization associated with butterfly-shaped pattern dystrophy - a case report

The pattern dystrophies (PDs) are a group of primarily autosomal dominant inherited macular diseases that cause the deposition of lipofuscin in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and may lead to significant vision loss in later life. Patients can develop choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and/ or geographic atrophy (GA) and for this reason they are often misdiagnosed as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We presented a case of a 66-year-old patient complaining of vision loss in the right eye (RE) for 8 months. At the initial examination, his best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.6 in the RE. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), fundus autofluorescence (FAF) and fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) allowed to diagnose butterfly-shaped PD in both eyes with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in the RE. The patient was treated with three intravitreal anti-vascular epithelial growth factor (anti-VEGF, ranibizumab) injections during six weeks intervals, which improved and stabilized the BCVA of the RE to 0.7 during the over two-year observation period. Our report contributes to the still limited data regarding CNV associated with butterfly-shaped PDs and the results of treatment with ranibizumab. Abbreviations: AMD = age-related macular degeneration, anti-VEGF = anti-vascular epithelial growth factor, AOFVD = adult-onset foveomacular vitelliform dystrophy, BCVA = best corrected visual acuity, CNV = choroidal neovascularization, FAF = fundus autofluorescence, FFA = fundus fluorescein angiography, GA = geographic atrophy, LE = left eye, MIDD = maternally inherited diabetes and deafness, OCT = optical coherence tomography, OCTA = optical coherence tomography angiography, OU = oculus uterque, both eyes, PD = pattern dystrophy, PDSFF = pattern dystrophy simulating fundus flavimaculatus, PDT = photodynamic therapy, PRPH2 = peripherine-2, RE = right eye, RPE = retinal pigment epithelium, VA = visual acuity.