Ophthalmologists frequently are able to diagnose, or at least suspect, the presence of systemic disease. Such cases usually are referred to other medical specialists for confirmation of such diagnoses. It is distinctly unusual, however, for a disseminated disease process to manifest itself exclusively by ocular symptoms and signs. It is also unusual for the findings to be confined to the eyes to such a degree that, despite the talents of other medical specialists, an accurate diagnosis of the pathologic process can only be made at postmortem examination. Malignant lymphoma involving intraocular tissues has often been reported in the ophthalmic literature, but for such a disseminated disease to reflect itself clinically only in the eye until its terminal stages, is certainly atypical. The following case report represents just such a sequence of events.
Report of Case
The patient was an apparently healthy 47-year-old white male who first presented himself on Dec.