Purpose: The authors describe a case of new bilateral epiretinal membranes and vitreous cells after intravitreal and sub-Tenon's injections of bone marrow-derived stem cells.
Methods: A case report of a 43-year-old man with OPA-1 autosomal dominant optic atrophy who self-enrolled in a stem cell therapy clinical trial and received simultaneous bilateral intravitreal and sub-Tenon's injections of bone marrow-derived stem cells.
Results: Within one month of receiving the injections, the patient developed epiretinal membranes and vitreous cells in both eyes, seen with optical coherence tomography.
Conclusion: Stem cell therapy has been gaining popularity as a potential intervention for progressive retinal and optic nerve diseases; however, the mechanism of action of bone marrow-derived stem cells is still not well understood and may result in unintended cell differentiation.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01920867.