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Vol.46 No.6 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Case Report -
A Case of Small Cell Lung Cancer with Cancer-Associated Retinopathy
Tomoyuki Araya1, Kazuo Kasahara1, Masaki Fujimura1, Takashi Sone1, Akihiro Yoshimoto1, Shinji Nakao11Respiratory Medicine, Cellular Transplantation Biology, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Japan
Background. Cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) is one of the paraneoplastic syndromes. CAR is known to be associated with epithelial cancers, mostly small cell lung cancer. We encountered one rare case of small cell lung cancer associated with CAR. Case. A 77-year-old man complained of dimming of vision in June 2003. He was suspected to have CAR because his electroretinography (ERG) showed a negative waveform, and his multifocal ERG (visual evoked response imaging system: VERIS) showed a diffuse negative waveform. After detailed whole-body examinations including mediastinoscopic biopsy, limited-stage small cell lung carcinoma was diagnosed. Although anti-recoverin antibody, which is a characteristic of CAR, was not detected in his serum, the presence of recoverin in the mediastinoscopic biopsy specimen was verified by immunohistochemistry. After two cycles of chemotherapy consisting of carboplatin and etoposide followed by sequential radiotherapy were performed, the tumor responded completely. This patient's vision did not improve in spite of the complete response. Conclusion. Upon diagnosis of CAR without serum anti-recoverin antibody, it can be helpful to verify the presence of recoverin in tumor tissue by immunohistochemistry for the definitive diagnosis of CAR.
key words: Cancer-associated retinopathy, Small cell lung cancer, Anti-recoverin antibody, Visual disturbance, Autoimmunity
Received: April 4, 2006
Accepted: August 4, 2006
JJLC 46 (6): 741-746, 2006
