Advanced exudative retinopathy with neovascular glaucoma as the clinical presentation of diabetes mellitus and severe combined hyperlipidemia: a case report.

A 50-year-old man presented with bilateralprogressive visual loss for 5 months. Visual acuity was reduced to countingfingers in the right eye and light perception in the left. Although neovascularizations were detected in the angles of the eyes, neovascular glaucoma and rubeosis iridis were demonstrated only in the left. Fundus examination showed bilateral advanced exudative retinopathy in both eyes. Severe attenuated retinal arteries and enlarged cupping with disc pallor were observed in the left eye. Generalized eruptive xanthomas were found on the back and extremities. Extreme dyslipidemia (serum cholesterol 1311 mg/dl and triglycerides 6356 mg/dl) and diabetes mellitus (fasting plasma glucose 325 mg/dl and HbA1 c 12.1%) were first diagnosed. The serum lipid profiles and glucose levels were dramatically decreased within a month after treatment with subcutaneous insulin injections and oral hypolipidemic agents; notwithstanding, his vision was not significantly improved, even after treatment with intravitreal anti-VEGF injection, intravitreal steroid injection and panretinal photocoagulation.

CONCLUSIONS

The principle causes of advanced exudative retinopathy are severe breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier due to diabetes mellitus and altered retinal pigment epithelium lipid metabolism. In ourpatient, central retinal vascular occlusion was also the suspected cause ofneovascular glaucoma.