Correlation between peripapillary retinal thickness and serum level of vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with <scp>POEMS</scp> syndrome

<jats:sec><jats:title>Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>To determine whether there is a significant correlation between the peripapillary retinal thickness (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">pRT</jats:styled-content>) and the serum level of vascular endothelial growth factor (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VEGF</jats:styled-content>) in patients with polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal gammopathy, and skin changes (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">POEMS</jats:styled-content>) syndrome.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>This was a cross sectional, observational case series. We studied 34 eyes of 17 treatment‐naïve patients with <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">POEMS</jats:styled-content> syndrome whose intracranial pressure (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">ICP</jats:styled-content>) was within the normal range. The spectral‐domain optical coherence tomographic (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SD</jats:styled-content>‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">OCT</jats:styled-content>) examinations consisted of circle scans around the optic disc (3.45 mm in diameter). The <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">pRT</jats:styled-content> was automatically measured in the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SD</jats:styled-content>‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">OCT</jats:styled-content> images, and the average <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">pRT</jats:styled-content> was used for the statistical analysis. The serum level of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VEGF</jats:styled-content> was measured by Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">ELISA</jats:styled-content>s), and the correlation between the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">pRT</jats:styled-content> and the serum level of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VEGF</jats:styled-content> was determined.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>The mean serum level of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VEGF</jats:styled-content> in all <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">POEMS</jats:styled-content> patients was 6085 ± 3332 pg/ml with a range of 1380 to 12000 pg/ml. The correlation between the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">pRT</jats:styled-content> and the serum level of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VEGF</jats:styled-content> was significant (right eye, <jats:italic>r </jats:italic>= 0.85, <jats:italic>P </jats:italic>< 0.0001; left eye, <jats:italic>r </jats:italic>= 0.65, <jats:italic>P </jats:italic>= 0.004, Spearman's rank‐correlation coefficient), and there was a strong positive correlation between the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">pRT</jats:styled-content> of the right eyes and left eyes (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = 0.83, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.0001, Spearman's rank‐correlation coefficient).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>The significant correlation between the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">pRT</jats:styled-content> and the serum level of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VEGF</jats:styled-content> suggests that the higher serum level of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VEGF</jats:styled-content> might be associated with the development of the optic disc edema in patients with <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">POEMS</jats:styled-content> syndrome.</jats:p></jats:sec>