Purpose: Primary intraocular lymphoma (PIOL) is associated with a poor prognosis. In many cases, central nerve system lymphoma (CNSL) develops a few years after onset, and recent reports have indicated that the five-year survival rate is approximately 60%. Few reports have discussed the long-term course of such patients because once CNSL develops, it can often be difficult for patients to attend regular outpatient checkups. Here we report on our investigation of the clinical features of cases of PIOL that were able to be followed up for more than five years.
Subjects and methods: The subjects comprised 14 patients who were diagnosed with PIOL between April 1999 and August 2011 at the Department of Ophthalmology of the Tokyo Medical University Hospital and were able to be followed up for more than five years. We retrospectively investigated these cases using medical records.
Results: The mean age of the 14 patients (males: three, females: 11) was 63.8±6.3 years, and the mean observation period was 90.3±27.9 months. At the initial examination, seven patients had bilateral PIOL and seven patients had unilateral PIOL, with CNSL occurring in 12 patients (86%) during the follow-up. The mean number of relapses during the follow-up period was 3.7 (0-18) times: intraocular relapse (2.1; 0-16 times), CNSL relapse (1.2; 0-3 times), and other organ relapse (0.4; 0-2 times).
Conclusion: Cases of PIOL require continuous and careful management because relapses are common in both the intraocular and central nervous systems even in long-term survival cases.
Nippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi (J Jpn Ophthalmol Soc) 122: 565-571, 2018.