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Ampiginous Choroiditis

Description

Ampiginous choroiditis (or relentless placoid chorioretinitis) is a rare bilateral posterior uveitis affecting the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the choroid. It presents with a clinical picture that is in the spectrum of acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy (APMPEE), although in this case the involvement may progressively extend towards the periphery.

It affects men and women equally, between the second and sixth decades of life. It has a chronic, atypical and recurrent course. It is of unknown etiology, but it is postulated that there may be a possible viral, bacterial or autoimmune trigger. In the case of our patient, he was diagnosed with cutaneous tuberculosis concomitant with the ophthalmological picture. This form of presentation of ocular tuberculosis has been described between 9 and 12% of cases of ocular tuberculosis with choroidal involvement according to the COTS-1 study. The symptoms include rapidly appearing painless blurred vision, as well as paracentral scotomas, photopsia, metamorphopsia and myodesopsia. In the fundus we find multiple creamy and white lesions in the RPE, which end up progressing to chorioretinal scars. In autofluorescence, acute lesions are hyperfluorescent, while chronic ones are hypofluorescent. In optical coherence tomography we can find detachment of the RPE, as well as hyperreflectivity of the outer layers of the retina with loss of the ellipsoids in the acute phase of the disease, which can be reversed with appropriate treatment.

Comments

Despite the chronic course of the disease, the response to treatment is usually good if the condition is diagnosed and treated in time. Treatment may require corticosteroids, immunosuppressants and, in cases of infectious etiology such as this, specific antimicrobial treatment.

Indication

A 40-year-old male presented with central blurred vision along with metamorphopsia in the right eye that had been developing for 4 days.