PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kelly L Larkin
AU  - Ujwala S Saboo
AU  - Grant M Comer
AU  - Farzin Forooghian
AU  - Friederike Mackensen
AU  - Pauline Merrill
AU  - H Nida Sen
AU  - Arun Singh
AU  - Rohan W Essex
AU  - Stewart Lake
AU  - Lyndell L Lim
AU  - Daniel V Vasconcelos-Santos
AU  - C Stephen Foster
AU  - David J Wilson
AU  - Justine R Smith
TI  - Use of intravitreal rituximab for treatment of vitreoretinal lymphoma
AID  - 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2013-304043
DP  - 2014 Jan 01
TA  - British Journal of Ophthalmology
PG  - 99--103
VI  - 98
IP  - 1
4099  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/98/1/99.short
4100  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/98/1/99.full
SO  - Br J Ophthalmol2014 Jan 01; 98
AB  - Aim Vitreoretinal lymphoma is a diffuse large B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Targeting malignant cells with rituximab is being used increasingly as local chemotherapy, but information on this treatment is scant. We aimed to describe current therapeutic approaches, as well as responses to and complications of, intravitreal rituximab in patients with vitreoretinal lymphoma. Methods Clinical data were collected in a standardised manner retrospectively on patients with vitreoretinal lymphoma treated with intravitreal rituximab. Results 48 eyes (34 patients) with vitreoretinal lymphoma were treated with a median of 3.5 intravitreal injections of rituximab (1 mg/0.1 mL) for new diagnosis (68.8%), progressive disease (29.9%) and maintenance therapy (2.1%). Intravitreal rituximab±methotrexate was the sole treatment in 19 eyes (39.6%). 31 eyes (64.6%) eyes achieved complete remission, after a median of 3 injections; 7 of these eyes developed recurrent disease. 11 eyes (22.9%) achieved partial remission. Although rituximab may have contributed to complications reported in 12 eyes (25.0%), a 2-line loss of Snellen visual acuity occurred in only 2 of those eyes (4.2%). Conclusions Approaches in rituximab-based intravitreal chemotherapy vary widely, but our findings suggest that this treatment may be safe and effective in inducing remission in a majority of eyes with vitreoretinal lymphoma.