Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Paraneoplastic optic neuropathy associated with papillary renal cell carcinoma
  1. N Srikantha,
  2. S Goverdhan,
  3. A Evans
  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, UK
  1. Correspondence toAnthony Evans, Ophthalmology Department, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth PO6 3LY, UK; anthony.evans{at}porthosp.nhs.uk

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

A 54-year-old gentleman presented to our Eye Unit following an optician referral with a 4-month history of gradual visual deterioration. Other significant symptoms included problems with his mobility and balance consistent with an ataxic sensory neuropathy for which he had not sought medical advice. History revealed a significant amount of cigarette smoking and alcohol intake with poor dietary habits. On examination, he had a best-corrected visual acuity of 2/60 in both eyes. Pupil reaction was sluggish, but there was no relative afferent pupil defect and ocular motility and anterior segment examinations were all normal. Due to the severity of visual loss, he was unable to perform formal colour vision tests.

Fundus examination revealed bilateral pale optic discs with atrophy more prominent on the temporal side. A provisional diagnosis of bilateral optic atrophy secondary to nutritional/toxic cause was assumed. The patient then had blood tests, which included serum vitamin levels. Visual field testing revealed peripheral constriction in both eyes. His blood mean corpuscular volume was 110.9 fL (normal=75–95) and ferritin …

View Full Text

Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.