RETINAL ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATION.

PURPOSE: To describe a case of an isolated Group 3 retinal arteriovenous malformation (AVM).

METHODS

Observational case report.

RESULTS

A 15-year-old girl with no significant medical history presented with no light perception vision in her right eye and gradually decreasing vision in her left eye over several years. She was found to have a large AVM in the posterior pole of the right eye with associated perivascular sheathing in the periphery. Her left eye seemed totally unremarkable. Neuroimaging revealed no intracranial or intraorbital abnormalities. A diagnosis of isolated Group 3 retinal AVM was made.

CONCLUSION

Retinal AVMs are congenital, nonhereditary, and sporadic vascular anomalies that develop in the posterior pole. A number of patients with this finding can have coexisting AVMs in the brain, mandible, skin, or orbit, which comprises the Wyburn-Mason syndrome. Because of these systemic associations, neuroimaging should always be considered when a retinal AVM is seen. Severe vision loss can occur from these AVMs secondary to a number of ocular complications, including central retinal vein occlusions.