Choriocapillaris Integrity in Relapsed Central Serous Chorioretinopathy in a Patient Treated With Fingolimod for Multiple Sclerosis: New Insights From Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

Fingolimod-associated central serous chorioretinopathy in a young girl

Fingolimod is a sphingosine-1-phosphate analogue used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. We, hereby, report a rare case of fingolimod-associated central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) in a 21-year-old woman who presented with blurring of vision in the right eye 3 weeks after initiation of oral fingolimod. On examination, best-corrected visual acuity was 20/20 in both the eyes. Fundus examination revealed shallow, serous macular neurosensory detachment in the right eye, and it was confirmed with spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Left eye fundus was normal. Fluorescein angiography showed focal retinal pigment epithelium leak inferior to the fovea. A diagnosis of fingolimod-associated CSCR was made. Oral fingolimod was discontinued. Subsequent follow-up visits showed partial resolution of CSCR at 2 weeks and at 1 month and complete resolution of the subretinal fluid at 2 months. CSCR is, therefore, a rare adverse effect of oral fingolimod treatment. Baseline eye examination and subsequent follow-up at regular intervals are recommended for patients on fingolimod.

Assessment of Macular Function by Multifocal Electroretinogram in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Treated with Fingolimod

Introduction

This study aimed to evaluate whether treatment with fingolimod (FTY) may induce functional changes on the macular pre-ganglionic retinal elements in patients affected by relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS) without optic neuritis (ON).

Methods

This case–control observational and retrospective study assessed multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) responses from 35 healthy controls (mean age 43.58 ± 5.76 years), 41 patients with RR-MS without ON (mean age 40.64 ± 4.83 years, MS-noFTY group), and from 21 patients with RR-MS without ON (mean age 42.38 ± 12.34 years) and treated with fingolimod (Gilenya®, Novartis Europharm, 0.5 mg/day) (MS-FTY group). MfERG N1 and P1 implicit times (ITs), and N1–P1 response amplitude densities (RADs) were measured from concentric rings (R) with increasing foveal eccentricity: 0–5° (R1), 5–10° (R2), 10–15° (R3), 15–20° (R4), 20–25° (R5). We considered R1 and R2 as “central macular areas” and R3, R4 and R5 as “more eccentric retinal areas”. In the MS-FTY group, mfERG recordings were performed between 6 and 12 months (mean 7.2 ± 1.5 months) from the start of FTY.

Results

In the MS-FTY group, the mean values of mfERG N1 and P1 ITs and RADs detected in both central macular areas (R1 and R2) and in more eccentric retinal areas (R3, R4 and R5) were not significantly different (p > 0.01) with respect to those of control and MS-noFTY groups.

Conclusions

Our mfERG results suggest that the chronic use of FTY does not induce a dysfunction of pre-ganglionic retinal elements located in the 0–25° of central retina. Since FTY does not cause any retinal functional abnormality, we suggest that FTY treatment could not produce any toxic effect on pre-ganglionic retinal elements even in the absence of macular oedema.