FIBROBLASTIC OVERGROWTH OF PERSISTENT TUNICA VASCULOSA LENTIS IN PREMATURE INFANTS

Abstract

So-called persistent tunica vasculosa lentis, or a fibroblastic sheath behind the crystalline lens, is known to occur sporadically. Usually the condition is discovered a few days after birth in an infant born at full term, but the correct diagnosis is often not established until the eyes are examined pathologically after removal because of a clinical diagnosis of retinoblastoma. Almost invariably this lesion is unilateral. That it is infrequent is borne out by the paucity of the literature on the subject and the scarcity of pathologic specimens.¹ Within the last year a similar condition has been found in both eyes of a number of infants born about eight weeks prematurely. This bilateral fibroplasia²at first appeared to be a new disease entity related to prematurity. Only after study of cases 5 and 7, reported hereafter, was it apparent that the condition observed sporadically at birth was a different phase