Abstract
Purpose
To report a case of deterioration of a retinal arterial macroaneurysm after panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) for dia-betic retinopathy.
Case summary
A 70-year-old woman visited our clinic for evaluation of diabetic retinopathy. Fundus examination and fluo-rescein angiography showed severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy and PRP was planned for the patient. In addition, the patient was found to have a retinal arterial macroaneurysm on the superotemporal area of the retina on her right eye. However, the lesion was small and was located far from the macula, causing no symptoms; thus we decided to observe the patient over a period of time. Two months after PRP, the patient revisited the clinic complaining of acute visual loss. Fundus examination showed vitreous and retinal hemorrhage and optical coherence tomography revealed subretinal fluid in the corresponding area. This was considered to be due to aggravation of the pre-existing macroaneurysm. Intravitreal Bevacizumab injection, C3 F8 gas injection, and pars plana vitrectomy were performed. After absorption of the hemorrhage, barrier photocoagulation was per-formed around the retinal macroanerysm. The visual acuity improved and the retina remained stable through the most recent fol-low-up.
Conclusions
We experienced the rupture of a preexisting retinal arterial macroaneurysm in an asymptomatic patient after pan-retinal photocoagulation. PRP in diabetic patients could aggravate retinal arterial macroaneurysms. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully examine the patient for retinal macroaneurysms when planning a PRP for diabetic retinopathy.
Go to : 

References
1. Lewis RA, Norton EW, Gass JD. . Acquired arterial macro-aneurysms of the retina. Br J Ophthalmol. 1976; 60:21–30.


2. Rabb MF, Gagliano DA, Teske MP. . Retinal arterial macroaneurysms. Surv Ophthalmol. 1988; 33:73–96.


3. Russell SR, Folk JC. . Branch retinal artery occlusion after dye yel-low photocoagulation of an arterial macroaneurysm. Am J Ophthalmol. 1987; 104:186–7.


4. Abdel-Khalek MN, Richardson J. . Retinal macroaneurysm: natural history and guidelines for treatment. Br J Ophthalmol. 1986; 70:2–11.


5. Palestin AG, Robertson DM, Goldstein BG. . Macroaneurysms of the retinal arteries. Am J Ophthalmol. 1982; 93:164–71.
6. Tonotsuka T, Imai M, Saito K, Iijima H. . Visual prognosis for symp-tomatic retinal arterial macroaneurysm. Jpn J Ophthalmol. 2003; 47:498–502.


7. Zhao P, Hayashi H, Oshima K. . Vitrectomy for macular hemor-rhage associated with retinal arterial macroaneurysm. Ophthalmology. 2000; 107:613–7.


8. Kim DH, Yu HG. . Clinical results of vitrectomy in macular hemor-rhage from a ruptured retinal artery macroaneurysm. J Korean Ophthalmol Soc. 2010; 51:961–6.


9. Koinzer S, Heckmann J, Tode J, Roider J. . Long-term, therapy-related visual outcome of 49 cases with retinal arterial macro-aneurysm: a case series and literature review. Br J Ophthalmol. 2015; 99:1345–53.


10. Yuki T, Kimura Y, Nanbu S. . Ciliary body and choroidal de-tachment after laser photocoagulation for diabetic retinopathy. A high-frequency ultrasound study. Ophthalmology. 1997; 104:1259–64.


11. Patz A. . Studies on retinal neovascularization. Friedenwald Lecture. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1980; 19:1133–8.
12. Molnar J, Poitry S, Tsacopoulos M. . Effect of laser photo-coagulation on oxygenation of the retina in miniature pigs. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1985; 26:1410–4.
13. Yoshimura N, Matsumoto M, Shimizu H. . Photocoagulated human retinal pigment epithelial cells produce an inhibitor of vas-cular endothelial cell proliferation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1995; 36:1686–91.
14. Stefánsson E. . Ocular oxygenation and the treatment of diabetic retinopathy. Surv Ophthalmol. 2006; 51:364–80.


15. Panton RW, Goldberg MF, Farber MD. . Retinal arterial macro-aneurysms: risk factors and natural history. Br J Ophthalmol. 1990; 74:595–600.


16. Murhty K, Puri P, Talbot JF. . Retinal macroaneurysm with macular hole and subretinal neovascular membrane. Eye (Lond). 2005; 19:488–9.


Go to : 

![]() | Figure 1.Initial clinical manifestations of the 70-year-old female patient. There are retinal multiple spot hemorrhages on fundus pho-tography (A), but subretinal fluid was not identified in both eye on optical coherence tomography scans (B). Small retinal arterial macroaneurysm (red circle) was found in the supero-temporal artery of the right eye on fluorescein angiography (C). |
![]() | Figure 2.Ruptured retinal arterial macroaneurysm. The fundus photograph shows the edematous macula, vitreous hemorrhage and retinal and subretinal hemorrhage at the posterior pole caused by a macroaneurysm in the superotemporal artery in right eye 2 months after panretinal photocoagulation (A). The optical coherence tomography images demonstrated a large amount of subretinal serous fluid (B). |