Acquired peripheral retinal telangiectasia after retinal surgery.
BACKGROUND
Acquired peripheral retinal telangiectasia (APRT) is a well-recognized clinical entity that can be mistaken for conditions such as choroidal melanoma or the angiomata of von Hippel-Lindau disease. Although most cases are idiopathic, some have been shown to be associated with conditions such as uveitis and retinal detachment.


METHODS
The clinical histories of four patients in whom APRT developed after retinal surgery are presented.


RESULTS
For each patient studied, no retinal vascular abnormality was observed at the time of initial surgery. All patients were myopic, and three had clinical features compatible with Sticklers syndrome. APRT developed either in untreated retina remote from the area of detachment, in undetached retina treated with cryotherapy, in reattached retina in the region of subretinal fluid release, or in reattached retina over a scleral buckle.


CONCLUSIONS
Possible risk factors for the development of APRT include retinal ischemia after longstanding retinal detachment, retinal cryotherapy or scleral buckling, and damage to Bruch's membrane at the time of scleral suture placement or release of subretinal fluid. This report provides further evidence of an association between APRT and retinal detachment, and that APRT may be more specifically associated with retinal detachments in patients with Sticklers syndrome.
Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
R H
RH
Gray
Z J
ZJ
Gregor
D000328:Adult; D003452:Cryosurgery / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009216:Myopia / Q000150:complications; D012163:Retinal Detachment / Q000601:surgery*; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D012171:Retinal Vessels; D012307:Risk Factors; D012591:Scleral Buckling / Q000009:adverse effects; D013684:Telangiectasis / Q000209:etiology*