Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome and posterior ocular involvement: case series of 11 patients and literature review.

PURPOSE To describe the posterior ophthalmic manifestations of catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS). METHODS Retrospective case series of patients presenting with CAPS and posterior segment ocular manifestations. The main outcomes were the type of posterior segment manifestations at CAPS diagnosis, specifically retinal vascular occlusion, vasculitis, or choroidopathy, and the final best corrected visual acuity (BCVA). RESULTS This study included 23 patients (11 cases treated by the authors and 12 published case reports), 21 (91%) of them female. Their median age at diagnosis was 28 years (range 16-79). Ophthalmologic manifestations were usually bilateral (n = 19, 83%) and involved vascular occlusive retinopathy (n = 17, 74%), choroidopathy (n=11, 48%), and/or retinal vasculitis (n = 1, 4%). Final BCVA was not significantly worse than BCVA at diagnosis (P = 0.16). Retinal vascular occlusions were associated with poorer final visual acuity than choroidopathy (P = 0.002). After a median follow-up of 14 months [2-132], nearly half the patients (n = 11, 48%) had permanent vision loss including BCVA < 20/400 for 4 patients. CONCLUSION Posterior ophthalmic manifestations of CAPS were mainly bilateral retinal vascular occlusion, which had the worst visual prognosis, followed by choroidopathy and retinal vasculitis. Permanent visual loss was common.