Isolated diffuse choroidal hemangioma without systemic symptoms: a case report

BACKGROUND: Sturge-Weber syndrome is a nonhereditary congenital neurocutaneous syndrome characterized by a distinctive facial capillary malformation,neurological abnormalities, and ocular abnormalities such as glaucoma and choroidal hemangioma.It can be divided into different subtypes according to different clinical manifestations. It is rare for a patient to present with isolated difuse choroidal hemangioma and ipsilateral abnormal conjunctival and episcleral vessels without other systemic symptoms. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a 30-year-old man with isolated diffuse choroidal hemangioma in his right eye without systemic symptoms, such as vascular malformations in the skin or leptomeningeal angiomatosis. The only additional ophthalmic finding was ipsilateral abnormal conjunctival and episcleral vessels without glaucoma. However, there was no evidence of leptomeningeal angiomatosis or port-wine stain on the right side of the face, or glaucoma, which are common clinical manifestations of the Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS).The absence of these characteristic symptoms did not preclude the diagnosis, and the patient could be diagnosed with a particular subtype of SWS. CONCLUSIONS: This is a rare case of documented isolated difuse choroidal hemangioma with ipsilateral abnormal conjunctival and episcleral vessels without glaucoma which we think it is belonging to a particular subtype of SWS.In addition to the traditional clinical manifestations, more and more atypical clinical manifestations are also accompanied by SWS, which requires our clinicians to continuously discover and report, so as to help more clinicians understand this disease.