Aggressive retinal astrocytoma associated with tuberous sclerosis

Machiko Tomida,¹ Yoshinori Mitamura,¹ Takashi Katome,¹ Hiroshi Eguchi,¹ Takeshi Naito,¹ Takayuki Harada<sup>2

1</sup>Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, ²Visual Research Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract: We report the case of a patient with an aggressive retinal astrocytoma accompanied with macular edema and neovascular vessels, who was initially treated with intravitreal bevacizumab injections. A 24-year-old male presented to our clinic complaining of visual disturbance in his right eye. At 8 years of age, he had been diagnosed as having tuberous sclerosis complex. Fundus examination demonstrated a retinal tumor accompanied with marked neovascular vessels on the surface, retinal hemorrhage, and macular edema. After six monthly intravitreal bevacizumab injections, fundus examination demonstrated marked regression of the macular edema and neovascular vessels. Two months later, a vitreous hemorrhage developed which necessitated pars plana vitrectomy. After additional intravitreal bevacizumab injection for preventing intraoperative bleeding, vitrectomy with endophotocoagulation for the tumor was performed. The vitreous sample was obtained during vitrectomy, and we measured the vascular endothelial growth factor concentration by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The surgically removed epiretinal neovascular membrane and biopsied retinal tumor expressed vascular endothelial growth factor, although several intravitreal bevacizumab injections led to a vitreous vascular endothelial growth factor concentration of undetectable levels. The clinical course and immunohistochemical analyses indicate that intravitreal bevacizumab monotherapy may have been insufficient to treat the aggressive retinal astrocytoma with macular edema and that laser photocoagulation or photodynamic therapy for the tumor should be considered following intravitreal bevacizumab injection in such cases.

Keywords: aggressive retinal astrocytoma, bevacizumab, macular edema, tuberous sclerosis, vitrectomy, vitreous hemorrhage