A new technique of combined retinal and choroidal biopsy

Abstract

AIMS: To evaluate a new technique in large retinal and choroidal biopsies in patients with uveitis of unknown aetiology and chorioretinal lesions or infiltrate. METHODS: Retrospective, non-comparative, consecutive interventional case series. Patients were identified from the computerised patient database and from histopathology records. RESULTS: A total of nine patients were included in the study. The commonest indication of biopsy was panuveitis of unknown aetiology. Positive histological diagnoses from the chorioretinal biopsies were made in five cases (55.6%). Complications included vitreous haemorrhages and one case of retinal detachment. CONCLUSION: The technique of large chorioretinal biopsy described appears to be safe. It produced good amounts of chorioretinal tissue for histopathological analysis. Positive histology results were seen in the majority of the sample and especially in those where vitreous biopsy alone proved to be inadequate.