RETINAL TELANGIECTASIA IN PATIENTS WITH PATHOLOGIC MYOPIA: A CASE SERIES.

PURPOSE: To describe the characteristics of retinal telangiectasia in eyes with pathologic myopia.

METHODS

The study included 10 patients (18 eyes) who were diagnosed with pathologic myopia combined with retinal telangiectasia. The patients visited our retinal clinic every 3 months. Nine eyes underwent vitrectomy for vision-threatening complications after diagnosis. All eyes underwent comprehensive ophthalmologic examinations including multimodal retinal imaging at presentation and at each follow-up.

RESULTS

Retinal telangiectasia in pathologic myopia was characterized by saccular aneurysmal dilatation of the capillary bed without hard exudates in color fundus photographs and hyporeflective saccular structure in infrared reflectance fundus photographs, and it was filled in the early retinal arteriovenous phase with minimal dye leakage in the late phase of fundus fluorescein angiography. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography and optical coherence tomographic angiography showed that retinal telangiectasia was primarily located in the superficial retina, together with myopic traction maculopathy. In the 9 eyes that underwent vitrectomy, the retinal telangiectasia regressed within 3 months of surgery. Retinal telangiectasia remained stable in the other nine eyes, but these eyes were at risk of spontaneous bleeding.

CONCLUSION

Retinal telangiectasia is a relatively quiescent and uncommon disorder in patients with pathologic myopia that might be closely related to myopic traction maculopathy.