Multimodal imaging of bilateral ischemic retinal vasculopathy associated with Berger’s IgA nephropathy: case report

BACKGROUND: Berger’s IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerulonephritis. However, some rare cases of retinal manifestations have been described, with only two cases of retinal vasculopathy reported in the literature. Here we report an uncommon case of bilateral ischemic retinal vasculopathy associated with Berger IgAN, evaluated with complete multimodal imaging including ultra-wide field (UWF) imaging and swept source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA). CASE PRESENTATION: A 51-year-old woman with a history of Berger’s IgA nephropathy complained of visual impairment in both eyes. Fundus examination showed bilateral peripapillary arterial attenuation and perivascular sheathing, associated to perifoveal telangiectatic lesions. There was a central scotoma in the perimetry of the right eye and peripheral visual field defect in the left eye. Full-field electroretinogram revealed significantly reduced oscillatory potentials. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography showed multiple focal areas of thinning of the inner retina, indicating long-lasting vascular occlusion lesions. UWF fluorescein angiography showed the presence of bilateral vasculitis, diffuse capillary leakage, macular ischemia and telangiectasia. SS-OCTA better highlighted the macular ischemia and vascular anomalies layer-by-layer. CONCLUSIONS: Retinal vasculopathy is a very rare condition observed in IgA nephropathy. To our knowledge, this is the first report of complete multimodal functional and structural imaging. UWF imaging was very useful for accurate and comprehensive disease assessment, and OCTA was able to assess posterior pole vascular lesions.