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Case of cystoid macular edema induced by systemic administration of paclitaxel: evaluations with electroretinograms

  • Clinical Case Report
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Abstract

Purpose

To report abnormal full-field electroretinograms (ERGs) in a patient with cystoid macular edema (CME) induced by systemic paclitaxel.

Methods

This is an observational case report. Full-field ERGs were recorded to evaluate the retinal function using the RETeval system and conventional ERGs using contact lens electrodes with built-in white light-emitting diodes. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was also used to assess the retinal morphology.

Results

A 70-year-old man, who was diagnosed with gastric cancer, had undergone gastrectomy. Subsequently, systemic paclitaxel was administered once a week as an adjuvant therapy. After the tenth course of paclitaxel, he experienced blurred vision in both eyes and visited our department of ophthalmology. OCT revealed the presence of CME in both eyes, and the RETeval flicker ERGs showed a marked reduction in the amplitudes and a prolongation of the implicit times in both eyes. Conventional ERGs showed that the amplitudes of the oscillatory potentials (OPs) were also severely attenuated. The abnormal OCT findings and reduced visual acuity recovered to normal at 1 and 2 months, respectively, after the discontinuation of paclitaxel. However, the flicker ERGs did not recover to normal values until 4 months after the discontinuation of paclitaxel.

Conclusion

These results suggest that the ERGs can be used to monitor the changes in the overall retinal function in patients receiving paclitaxel.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Emeritus Duco I. Hamasaki of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami (Miami, FL, USA) for critical discussion and final manuscript revisions.

Funding

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research C (MK, 18H02954 and 17K19721) from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

KK and MK wrote the main manuscript. RN, MS, KI collected the data. KK, HM analyzed the data. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kumiko Kato.

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Conflict of interest

K. Kato, None; R. Nagashima, None; M Sugimoto, None; K Ikesugi, None; H Matsubara, Novartis (F); M. Kondo, Novartis (F).

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The patient has consented to the submission of the case report to the journal.

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All procedures performed in study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendaments or comparable ethical standards.

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No animals were used in this study.

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Kato, K., Nagashima, R., Sugimoto, M. et al. Case of cystoid macular edema induced by systemic administration of paclitaxel: evaluations with electroretinograms. Doc Ophthalmol 143, 229–235 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10633-021-09835-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10633-021-09835-x

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