Proliferative Vascular Retinopathy in Polymyositis and Dermatomyositis with Scleroderma (Overlap Syndrome)

Abstract

AIM: To report the occurrence of proliferative vascular retinopathy in two patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis. METHOD: Review of case records. RESULTS: One patient presented, six years after the diagnosis of polymyositis, with obliteration of the superior retinal vessels and associated neovascularization of the disc. The second patient with overlap syndrome was detected to have occlusion of the inferotemporal retinal arteriole and venule with early neovascularization of the retina. CONCLUSION: Retinal vascular occlusion with development of proliferative changes can occur in polymyositis/dermatomyositis. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this has not been reported earlier in the literature.