July 16, 2012 Common in all patients with weakened immune systems (due to chemotherapy, immuno-suppression after organ transplantation, AIDS). It occurs in about 40% of patients with AIDS, it is mostly mutual. In half the cases causes the retinal ablation.
Symptoms:
Symptoms depend on the location of the inflammation. When the macula or the optic nerve is affected, visual acuity is very low. If the periphery is affected, the patient notices the white spots or areas of blindness, but there may be no symptoms.
On the retina there are visible whitish inflammatory foci, exudates, hemorrhages, and later pigmented scars.
Treatment:
It should be borne in mind that this is a systemic disease, and antiviral drug (ganciclovir primarily) should be administered intravenously or orally. Alone retinitis is treated with intravitreally implant of ganciclovir every 8 months. Retinal detachment is taken care of by vitreoretinal surgery.
Early diagnosis and early start of treatment are the most important for successful treatment. At this point healing should not be expected – medications only control the disease and they should be taken for life. It is possible for the virus to develop resistance to the drug.