BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANT RETINOPATHY

Five of eight patients (62%) who survived at least six months after autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for acute leukemia developed occlusive microvascular retinopathy. Treatable retinal microangiopathy included a high incidence (80%) of clinically significant macular edema and one case of proliferative retinopathy with subhyaloid hemorrhage. The bone marrow transplant protocol required high-dose cytarabine hydrochloride and 1,200 cGy of total body irradiation. The development of radiation retinopathy after such low doses of teletherapy suggests that high-dose chemotherapy may increase the susceptibility for the development of retinopathy at otherwise safe radiation doses.