Alteration of the blood-retina barriers in cases of viral retinitis.

This paper presents three cases of serologically documented viral retinitis, and the great value of fluorescein angiography in outlining the structural abnormalities and the site of the lesions. Of our series in the case of influenza retinitis, the fluoroangiographic findings showed dye leakage from retinal vessels in the posterior pole. The dye leakage did not appear completely in the sites of macular edema. This edema was similar to the clinical appearance of cotton-wool spots and was arranged in a star-like pattern. One of the cases of cytomegalovirus retinitis (Case 3), a previously healthy adult with dysfunction of the cellular immune system, seems to be a further example of an inflammation in the inner retina presenting cotton-wool spots at the early stage. Case 2, a previously healthy adult, fulfilled the criteria for Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome. The patient had serologically documented cytomegalovirus infection with dysfunction of the cellular immune system. The fluorescein angiographic examination showed alteration both in the inner and outer blood-retina barriers as it is characteristic in cases of Harada syndrome. The cytomegalovirus infection might be assumed to play a role in the clinical picture as well as in the etiology of this disease.