Two-Year Follow-up of Necrotic Herpetic Retinopathy in a Renal Transplant Recipient

Abstract

Visual disturbances are common in patients who received renal transplant. Visual acuity is reduced in 60% of renal transplant patients after 10-year posttransplant. The most common causes are cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and hypertensive retinopathy. However, infectious causes of visual loss are rare and most commonly associated with cytomegalovirus and toxoplasmosis infections. Here, we report a 32-year-old male who developed visual loss 6 months after receiving a live-related kidney transplant. The patient had a history of varicella infection in the immediate posttransplant period. The visual loss was secondary to acute retinal necrosis probably secondary to a Varicella infection. This rare manifestation is even more unique in a posttransplant scenario which is usually associated with progressive outer retinal necrosis. The patient had developed irreversible visual loss secondary to the retinal necrosis. Here, we report this rare association as well as 2-year ophthalmological follow-up of this patient.

Keywords

• acute retinal necrosis
• herpes virus
• herpetic retinopathy
• necrotic retinopathy
• varicella zoster virus