page_title: Coats' disease
section_title: Imaging findings
hierarchical_section_title: Coats' disease / Diagnosis / Imaging findings
caption_attribution_description: Computed Tomography. Total exsudative retinal detachment in the right eye.
context_page_description: Coats' disease, is a rare congenital, nonhereditary eye disorder, causing full or partial blindness, characterized by abnormal development of blood vessels behind the retina. Coats' disease can also fall under glaucoma.
  It can have a similar presentation to that of retinoblastoma.
context_section_description: Imaging studies such as ultrasonography (US), Computerized Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can aid diagnosis. On ultrasound, Coats' disease appears as a hyperechoic mass in the posterior vitreous without posterior acoustic shadowing; vitreous and subretinal hemorrhage may often be observed.
  On CT, the globe appears hyperdense compared to normal vitreous due to the proteinaceous exudate, which may obliterate the vitreous space in advanced disease. The anterior margin of the subretinal exudate enhances with contrast. Since the retina is fixed posteriorly at the optic disc, this enhancement has a V-shaped configuration.
  On MRI, the subretinal exudate shows high signal intensity on both T1- and T2-weighted images. The exudate may appear heterogeneous if hemorrhage or fibrosis is present. The subretinal space does not enhance with gadolinium contrast. Mild to moderate linear enhancement may be seen between the exudate and the remaining vitreous. The exudate shows a large peak at 1–1.6 ppm on proton MR spectroscopy.
caption: Computed Tomography image of a patient with Coats' disease, showing total exudative retinal detachment in the right eye.
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