Treatment of cancer-associated retinopathy with rituximab.
Cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) is a rare autoimmune condition associated with various cancers, causing significant visual impairment. Visual symptoms in CAR may or may not correlate with the extent of systemic disease or its response to chemotherapy, and must be addressed separately from the management of systemic malignancy. Steroids have been the mainstay of CAR therapy. Various immunomodulatory therapies have also been described with varying responses, but the overall visual prognosis remains poor. Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma and many autoimmune disorders. This case report describes a patient with small cell uterine cancer who initially presented with visual impairment associated with CAR. The patient's deteriorating visual symptoms were successfully halted for an extended, clinically meaningful period with rituximab.
From the aContinuum Cancer Centers of New York; bDepartment of Medicine, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center; and cDepartment of Medicine, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, New York.
Irene
I
Dy
Rangaswamy
R
Chintapatla
Isabel
I
Preeshagul
Daniel
D
Becker
D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D059545:Paraneoplastic Syndromes, Ocular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000069283:Rituximab; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007155:Immunologic Factors; D000069283:Rituximab