Evaluation of diplopia as a vital and remarkable ocular finding among cancer patients.

BACKGROUND

Diplopia is an important and debilitating symptom of malignancies due to different pathogenetic mechanisms. Data is lacking in the literature because of the rarity of the diplopia in patients with cancer.

AIMS: We aimed to evaluate the etiological and clinical factors of diplopia in patients with different types of cancer.

METHODS

We retrospectively investigated 22 cancer patients with diplopia who were admitted between 2018 and 2021. The diagnosis of primary cancer, the underlying factors causing diplopia, and the life expectancy after diplopia were evaluated.

RESULTS

Among available data of 620 cancer patients applied to our ophthalmology department, 22 (3.55%) had diplopia. Paralytic strabismus was found in 19 patients and restrictive strabismus was found in 3 patients. Among the paralytic cases, 6th nerve palsy was found to be the most common with a rate of 68%. In 18 of 22 (82%) patients, the cause of diplopia was due to orbital or brain metastasis or local invasion. Two patients had diplopia secondary to radiotherapy and 2 had diplopia due to chemotherapy.

CONCLUSION

Metastasis is the most common cause of diplopia in patients with cancer and screening for metastasis is crucial as soon as diplopia begins for a better life expectancy.