Background: Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy is a hereditary, bilaterally progressive formation of a vitreoretinal membrane. It usually occurs in full-term newborns without previous treatment with hyperbaric oxygen. In this report, we present six cases of this disease with various abnormalities of the posterior segment diagnosed in two Syrian families related by first degree of consanguinity.
Design: A retrospective family analysis and presentation of cases.
Case presentation: Six members of the two consanguineous families, aged between 3.5 and 13 years, who were systemically healthy, presented with a visual acuity ranging between light perception and 0.4 with bilateral fundus changes. The findings included: papillary, macular, and retinal temporal traction in 11 eyes, a retinal fold in 7 eyes, a fibrovascular mass in 11 eyes, vitreoretinal traction in 5 eyes, subretinal exudation in 2 eyes, pigmentary abnormalities in 2 eyes, temporal or total tractional retinal detachment in 2 eyes, and vitreous hemorrhage in 1 eye.
Summary: Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy is characterized by fundus changes that resemble retinopathy of prematurity and must be differentiated from other diseases (e.g., Coats' disease, incontinentia pigmenti, persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous, and Norrie's disease).