PERSISTENT PLACOID MACULOPATHY-LIKE FINDINGS IN PATIENTS WITH GIANT CELL ARTERITIS

PURPOSE: To describe two patients with giant cell arteritis who presented with macular lesions mimicking persistent placoid maculopathy. METHODS: Retrospective case reports. PATIENT: Two patients, a 74-year-old man and an 85-year-old woman both were diagnosed with biopsy-confirmed giant cell arteritis with vision loss in one eye due to arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy. Both presented many years later with acute vision loss in the remaining eye. RESULTS: Both patients had bilateral retinal whitening in the parafovea, and the second also had sectoral optic disk swelling. On fluorescein angiography, these areas of retinal whitening in both patients were hypofluorescent early with late hyperfluorescence staining. On indocyanine green angiography, there were areas of foveal hypocyanescence bilaterally in both patients that persisted throughout the imaging and were more apparent late. These findings can be seen in patients with bilateral persistent placoid maculopathy. CONCLUSION: Giant cell arteritis should be included in the differential diagnosis of persistent placoid maculopathy.