Intraocular involvement as initial symptoms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of a intraocular lymphoma is often delayed because of a symptomatic pseudouveitis. CASE REPORT: We report on a 68-year-old female patient, who was referred because of a tumor of the optic disk in her right eye and bilateral uveitis with secondary glaucoma. The painful blind right eye was enucleated. The assumed diagnosis of a pseudouveitis as an initial manifestation of a B-cell lymphoma was confirmed histologically. She developed systemic extension and recurrence in the second eye despite polychemotherapy. The patient died from complications of her systemic tumor disease 15 months after initial symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: An initially unilateral and later bilateral uveitis in elderly patients which does not respond to steroid therapy could also be suspicious for an intraocular lymphoma. If the conjunctiva is not involved, the confirmation of the diagnosis requires a diagnostic viteous biopsy.