The characteristics of acute macular neuroretinopathy following COVID-19 infection

• Published in: BMC ophthalmology Vol. 24; no. 1; p. 19
• Main Authors: Feng, Hui, Zhao, Meng, Mo, Jing, Cao, Xusheng, Chen, Weixin, Wang, Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 10.01.2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Acute macular neuroretinopathy; Angiography; Birth control; Case reports; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Dengue fever; Disease; Fluorescein; Fluorescence; Health aspects; Hospitals; Hypertension; Immunization; Infections; Influenza; Lesions; Medical imaging; Observational studies; Optical coherence tomography; Optical coherence tomography angiography; Optics; Patients; Polymerase chain reaction; Retina; Reverse transcription; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Tomography; Visual acuity; Visual field; Beijing China; China; Japan; COVID-19; Acute macular neuroretinopathy; Optical coherence tomography; Optical coherence tomography angiography; Visual field; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2
• ISSN: 1471-2415; 1471-2415
• DOI: 10.1186/s12886-024-03283-2

In this study, we report a case series of acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMN) associated with COVID-19 infection. This retrospective observational study was conducted at Beijing Tongren Hospital. We reviewed patients who were diagnosed with AMN within one month of testing positive for COVID-19 using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). A total of 11 AMN patients (20 eyes) were included in the study. The mean age was 33.8 ± 12.6 years. The average interval between a positive COVID-19 PCR test and the onset of ocular symptoms was 2.8 ± 2.5 days. The mean follow-up period for the patients was 12.5 ± 3.8 weeks. Imaging characteristics of AMN patients following COVID-19 infection included areas of low reflectivity on near-infrared reflectance (NIR) imaging, hyperreflective lesions at the level of the outer plexiform layer (OPL) and outer nuclear layer (ONL) and disruption of the ellipsoid zone (EZ) on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) B-scans. Visual field examinations revealed parafoveal scotomas that closely corresponded to the clinical lesions. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) demonstrated impaired perfusion in the deep retinal vascular plexus. Fluorescein angiography (FA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), and spontaneous fundus autofluorescence showed no significant abnormalities. During follow-up, partial improvement in retinal lesions was observed in NIR imaging and SD-OCT in some patients, but a proportion of patients still exhibited persistent retinal damage and no improvement in visual field scotomas. COVID-19-related AMN share similar clinical and imaging features with AMN due to other causes, as evidenced by the persistent presence of visual field scotomas over a longer duration. https://www.chictr.org.cn/ ; identifier: ChiCTR2100044365.