Retinal metastasis from unknown primary: diagnosis, management, and clinicopathologic correlation

Digit J Ophthalmol. 2015 Oct 5;21(4):1-10. doi: 10.5693/djo.02.2015.04.004. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

A 75-year-old man was incidentally found to have a yellow-white retinal lesion with scattered hemorrhages. He was empirically treated elsewhere for viral retinitis without resolution and later transferred to the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, where retinal biopsy with silicone oil tamponade showed retinal metastasis. He had no prior history of cancer, and multiple systemic imaging evaluations failed to identify a primary site. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry of the biopsy were consistent with non-small-cell lung carcinoma. Due to the radiation-attenuating properties of silicone oil, the patient underwent silicone oil removal prior to receiving external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). The retinal metastasis responded completely to EBRT, and at final follow-up, 18 months after initial presentation, no primary tumor has been identified.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Biopsy
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neoplasms, Unknown Primary / diagnosis*
  • Neoplasms, Unknown Primary / therapy
  • Retina / diagnostic imaging*
  • Retinal Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Retinal Neoplasms / secondary*
  • Retinal Neoplasms / therapy
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence