A Focal Chorioretinal Bartonella Lesion Analyzed by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

Neovascularization may be associated with cat-scratch neuroretinitis in the absence of retinal vascular occlusion. Bartonella organisms establish an intimate relationship with the vascular endothelium, causing angioproliferative lesions, which might represent a dedicated pathogenic strategy for expanding the bacterial host cell habitat. In the eye, pathological angiogenesis caused by Bartonella has been described as peripapillary or macular choroidal neovascularization, but the presence of neovascularization within foci of chorioretinitis has never before been reported. The authors present a case of Bartonella chorioretinitis in which optical coherence tomography angiography, by detecting erythrocyte motion, was able to identify neovessels inside the infectious focus.