Clinical characters and treatments of retinal vasoproliferative tumors

Retinal vasoproliferative tumors (VPT) are uncommon benign vascular tumors. They mostly occur in healthy patients, but may be associated with other chorioretinal diseases. Here we report four patients with VPT at a referral center from 2006 to 2015. Three patients denied any past history and one had a history of retinal detachment surgery. VPT-related complications included epiretinal membrane (ERM) (n = 2), cystoids macular edema (n = 1), and lamellar hole combined with dense cataract, rigid anterior capsule and vitreous opacity (n = 1). Treatments for VPT and comorbidities included vitrectomy (VT) and membrane peeling with tumor resection (n = 2), a combined treatment of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and intravitreal injection (IVI) of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) (n = 2). Tumor shrinkage was achieved in both patients treated with PDT and IVI of anti-VEGF injection. The other two patients with ERM were successfully treated with VT and tumor resection. Visual acuity improved at least two lines in three patients, and one patient had decreased vision due to cataract formation after VT. Pathology of the resected tumor in one case revealed massive gliosis with positive stain of vascular endothelial cells and glial fibrillary acidic protein stain. Yet the peeled membrane was acellular. Possible beneficial treatments for VPT and comorbidities include PDT combined with IVI of anti-VEGF, or VT and membrane peeling with tumor resection.