Lurbinectidin, an Anticancer Drug of Natural Origin, Effectively Reduces Retinal Macular Edema: A Case Report

Purpose: To describe a case of macular edema, secondary to thrombosis, reduced during the oral treatment with lurbinectedin.

Methods: Patient affected by central macular edema to the right eye, due to central venous thrombosis, in chemotherapy for a small cell lung cancer with lurbinectidine. Lurbinectidine is a natural marine molecule isolated from the Caribbean algae "Ecteinascidia turbinata", used clinically and approved for the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma. The patient was treated with five chemotherapy sessions of lurbinectidine from October 2018 to May 2019 and we compared the central macular thickness before and after each chemotherapy session and performed OCT progression analysis using the CIRRUS Zeiss software.

Results: A strict cause-effect relationship between therapy and disappearance of edema was noted. We showed an improvement in macular edema in relation to the patient's chemotherapy sessions for therapy of small cell lung cancer.

Discussion: We think that this case demonstrates the anti-edema action of Lurbinectedin in maculopathy without any side effects.