Two cases of intraocular lymphoma diagnosed by analyses of vitreous and infusion fluid

PURPOSE: Intraocular lymphomas are rare, and they have poor prognosis. Thus, early diagnosis and treatment are needed. A definitive diagnosis of a lymphoma is based on cytological analysis of the intraocular fluids or tissues. We report two cases of intraocular lymphoma diagnosed by the analyses of vitreous and infusion fluid. PATIENTS: Case 1 was a 66-year-old woman who complained of eye floaters and was found to have diffuse vitreous opacification bilaterally. She received corticosteroid therapy, however the vitreous opacification was not resolved, and her visual acuity (VA) remained reduced. She underwent pars plana vitrectomy (PPV), and vitreous and infusion fluid were collected to determine the cause of the reduced VA. The undiluted vitreous obtained from core PPV was submitted for cytokine analysis, and infusion fluid was obtained from the machine cassette after full PPV and used for cytological analysis. Case 2 was a 62-year-old man referred with low vision and was found to have diffuse vitreous opacification in the right eye and dot hemorrhages in both eyes. Four years earlier, he had been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the paranasal sinuses and was in remission after chemotherapy. Because metastasis of the lymphoma was suspected, he underwent PPV, and intraocular samples were collected as in Case 1. RESULTS: Atypical lymphoid cells were detected from the infusion fluid in both cases. The ratio of interleukin (IL)-10 to IL-6 was greater than 1.0 in both cases. These results allowed us to make a diagnosis of intraocular lymphoma: primary intraocular lymphoma in Case 1 and metastatic intraocular lymphoma in Case 2. CONCLUSION: Vitreous and infusion fluid collected during PPV can be used for diagnosing an intraocular lymphoma.