Optic disc and choroidal metastases secondary to breast cancer: A case report

Eur J Ophthalmol. 2023 Jan;33(1):NP72-NP77. doi: 10.1177/11206721211036287. Epub 2021 Jul 29.

Abstract

Aim: To report an uncommon case of optic disc and multiple choroidal metastases secondary to breast cancer, assessed with swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT), fluorescein (FA), and infracyanine (ICGA) angiographies.

Methods: Observational case report.

Case presentation: A 40-year-old woman with history of left breast carcinoma presented with blurred vision in her right eye (RE). Her visual acuity was 1/20 in the RE and 10/10 in the left eye. Fundus examination of the RE showed a large yellowish elevation of the posterior pole and a particular whitish nodular papillary cluster protruding from the optic disc into the vitreous. Infrared imaging enhanced the papillary nodular infiltrates. Characteristic findings of choroidal metastasis were noted within the macular lesion on SS-OCT and ICGA. SS-OCT showed specific "lumpy bumpy" irregularity of the anterior surface of the choroid and elevated hyperreflective nodular lesions of the optic disc associated to peripapillary subretinal fluid. The papillary lesions appeared as a bunch of hypofluorescent dots on both FA and ICGA, and ultra-wide field FA was helpful clearly delimiting the large macular lesion. Besides, comprehensive imaging and especially ICGA could detect two asymptomatic choroidal metastases in a systematic assessment of the fellow eye.

Conclusion: Optic disc metastases are extremely rare. Their diagnosis can be easily done on fundus examination when presenting with characteristic whitish cluster nodular infiltrates of the optic disc. However multimodal imaging remains very useful for the assessment of the local extension of the lesion and for diagnosing associated asymptomatic choroidal lesions gone unnoticed at the fundus examination.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Optic disc metastasis; choroidal metastasis; multimodal imaging; preventive medicine/screening; uveal tumors.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Breast Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Choroid / pathology
  • Female
  • Fluorescein Angiography / methods
  • Fundus Oculi
  • Humans
  • Multimodal Imaging
  • Optic Disk* / pathology
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods