Clinical characteristics and optical coherence tomography features of ocular toxoplasmosis inHIV-positive patients: report 1.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the various clinical characteristics and ocular imaging features of ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) in HIV patients.
Methods: Observational retrospective study of 52 eyes of 38 HIV patients with OT.
Results: 68% of patients were male. 53.8% of eyes had keratic precipitates, anterior chamber cells were seen in 61.5%. 57.69% (n=30) eyes had de novo presentation of retinitis and 42.3% (n=22) of eyes had a retinochoroidal scar at presentation. Bilateral presentation was seen in 37% (n=14). Unifocal retinitis was noted in 38.4% (n=20) and 61.5% of eyes had multifocal (multizonal) retinitis (n=32). The most common multizonal involvement was noted in combined zone 1+2(n=14, 26.9%). The average horizontal and vertical measurements retinitis was 8.35 mm and 7.48 mm, respectively. The average area of retinitis was 66.2 mm ² . Localised posterior vitreous detachment was seen in 83% of eyes and posterior hyaloid precipitates were noted in (n=7,39%) of eyes. Retinitis without retinal pigment epithelium elevation occurred in 88.8% of cases, compared with retinitis with retinal pigment epithelium elevation seen in 44.4% of eyes. 50% of eyes had thickened choroid beneath the retinitis lesion. Other unique signs of optical coherence tomography (OCT) noted were angular signs of Henle fibre layer hyper-reflectivity sign (n=1), halo lesions with central hypo (n=3) and choroidal excavation (n=1).
Conclusions: OT in HIV patients presents with large, bilateral, multifocal retinitis, generally devoid of haemorrhages and can rarely have central clearing. These lesions may present with or without a previous retinochoroidal scar. These lesions have horizontal spread and may not always have thickened choroid on OCT.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.
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