Ocular involvement in chronic sarcoidosis.
Although spontaneous remissions often occur in sarcoidosis, chronic persistent disabling disease is also observed. Of a series of 183 patients with chronic sarcoidosis, 47 (26%) had ophthalmic involvement. In this series, chronic sarcoid was defined as disease for a minimum of five years. Patients were followed primarily for their systemic disease for a mean of 13 years. Uveitis developed in 35 patients (19%) and was an early manifestation in 32 (91%). The course of the ocular disease did not necessarily parallel that of the systemic disease. Despite the chronic nature of the underlying disease, the anterior uveitis did not pursue a chronic course in 15 of 33 patients (45%) and was generally characterized by a single episode at the onset of disease. Chronic uveitis and secondary glaucoma were poor prognostic signs, as eight of 11 patients with uveitis and glaucoma suffered severe visual loss.
D001766:Blindness / Q000175:diagnosis; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014605:Uveitis / Q000175:diagnosis