Department of Ophthalmology, Shiley Eye Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
BACKGROUND: Healed cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in the setting of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is complicated by inflammatory sequelae and vision loss. AIM: To determine the long term visual outcome of AIDS patients with CMV retinitis who received HAART. METHODS: 90 eyes of 63 consecutive AIDS patients with extramacular CMV retinitis were studied prospectively. RESULTS: Immune recovery status was related to time to onset of epiretinal membrane (p=0.05) and cystoid macular oedema (p=0.06) as well as to the incidence of cataract (p=0.001) and moderate vision loss (p<0.0001). Severe vision loss was associated with retinal detachment (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: AIDS patients with extramacular CMV retinitis lose vision while on HAART. HAART related immune recovery is associated with increased frequencies of epiretinal membrane, cystoid macular oedema, cataract, and retinal detachment with resultant vision loss in AIDS patients with healed CMV retinitis.