PURTSCHER RETINOPATHY AS A MANIFESTATION OF HEMOPHAGOCYTIC LYMPHOHISTIOCYTOSIS.

PURPOSE: The authors describe a woman diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and found to have retinal examination findings consistent with Purtscher retinopathy.

METHODS: A 52-year-old woman underwent multimodal imaging, including color fundus photography and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, to confirm the diagnosis.

RESULTS: The ophthalmic examination and imaging confirmed the findings of Purtscher retinopathy with significant inner retinal thickening on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Throughout a hospital course complicated by multi-organ failure, she continued to have profoundly limited visual acuity, likely resulting from inner retinal ischemia affecting the posterior pole of both eyes.

CONCLUSION: The authors describe a patient with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a disease characterized by disruption of normal natural killer cell activity with subsequent uncontrolled cytokine release, who presented with Purtscher retinopathy confirmed with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.