Fundus Abnormalities in Cushing's Disease: A Preliminary Report

Abstract

Three patients, 2 males and 1 female, with intrasellar, hypersecretive pituitary adenoma were studied. Blood hypertension was present in all and hyperglycemia in 2 (1 male, 1 female). None had neurological signs of compression of the optic disk or chiasma. One patient showed bilateral circumpapillary and multiple retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) detachment with pooling defects and intraretinal leakage from small retinal arterioles. Another had loss of foveolar, macular and retinal reflexes in the right eye; negligible RPE changes became visible with fluorescein angiography. The third, who had developed malignant hypertension, manifested bilateral hypertensive neuroretinopathy and papilledema. The simultaneous improvement of general and ocular symptoms after removal of the pituitary tumor makes a causal relationship possible and even very likely, between the underlying disorder and fundus abnormalities.