Congenital Grouped Pigmentation of the Retina: Histopathologic Description and Report of a Case

Gross examination of an eye removed at autopsy from a 4-year-old child with congenital heart disease revealed typical grouped pigmentation of the retina. Routine light microscopy and flat preparation of the retinal pigment epithelium demonstrated the lesions to consist of focal areas of increased concentration of pigment granules in otherwise normal retinal pigment epithelial cells. The pigment granules were large and football shaped. The overlying photoreceptors showed no abnormalities, possibly explaining the clinical features of normal visual acuity and visual fields in this patient. We believe that this is the first histologic description of congenital grouped pigmentation reported in the English literature. A differential diagnosis and brief review of the pertinent literature are also presented.