Coats' disease in adulthood with preserved vision after intravitreal aflibercept injection combined with laser photocoagulation : a case report.

Abstract

Background: This case report describes a rare case of Coats disease in adult female patient with preserved vision after intravitreal Aflibercept injection and laser photocoagulation.

Case presentation: A female patient of Asian Palestinian descent, aged 20, exhibited a progressive and painless deterioration in the vision of her left eye over a period of two weeks. She exhibited no additional ocular symptoms. Prior to her presentation, she had no notable medical history and her vision was normal in both eyes. Inferotemporal telangiectasia, sausage-like blood vessels with perivascular sheathing in the peripheral fundus, extensive exudate involving the macula, severe macular edema, and localized inferotemporal exudative retinal detachment were observed upon examination of the posterior segment of her left eye. Following this, optical coherence tomography (OCT) identified subretinal exudate, intraretinal and subretinal fluid. After establishing the diagnosis of stage 3 Coats' disease, the patient was treated with intravitreal Aflibercept (Eylea) injections and sectoral laser photocagulation. The third injection resulted in the absence of intraretinal and subretinal fluid by OCT, but the subretinal exudate remained unresolved. One month subsequent to the previous injection, FFA guided sectoral laser photoagulation was applied to the inferiotemporal ischemic area. The patient was subsequently monitored monthly, and her vision improved. Five months after treatment, her vision has improved to 0.7 (6/8.7) and she has remained stable ever since. At present, the patient is undergoing routine outpatient follow-up.

Conclusion: Coats disease is an idiopathic, progressive disease that mostly affects male infants, yet adult cases have been documented. Our case and the existing body of literature indicate that adult individuals have a favorable visual prognosis in the small proportion of cases where this occurs. It appeared that the implementation of intravitreal therapies and increased use of lasers led to enhanced visual outcomes. It is recommended to perform lifelong follow-up to monitor for recurrences and complications.