Revised diagnostic criteria for Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease: report of an international committee on nomenclature.
OBJECTIVE
To present revised criteria for the diagnosis of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, a chronic, bilateral, granulomatous ocular and multisystem inflammatory condition of unknown cause.


METHODS
Diagnostic criteria and nomenclature were subjects of discussion at the First International Workshop on Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease on October 19-21, 1999, at the University of California, Los Angeles, Conference Center, Lake Arrowhead, California. A committee appointed by the workshop participants was charged with drafting revised criteria for Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, based on discussions held during the conference. This article is the consensus committee report.


RESULTS
New criteria, taking into account the multisystem nature of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, with allowance for the different ocular findings present in the early and late stages of the disease, were formulated and agreed upon by the committee. These criteria are based on additional knowledge and experience of experts in the field and are believed to reflect disease features more fully than previously published criteria.


CONCLUSIONS
The revised definition of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, with expanded diagnostic criteria, will facilitate performance of studies involving homogeneous populations of patients, at various stages of disease, that address unanswered questions regarding treatment and disease mechanisms.
Read
R W
RW
Doheny Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, (Drs Read and Rao), Los Angeles, California, USA
Holland
G N
GN
Rao
N A
NA
Tabbara
K F
KF
Ohno
S
S
Arellanes-Garcia
L
L
Pivetti-Pezzi
P
P
Tessler
H H
HH
Usui
M
M
D002140:California; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D012955:Societies, Medical; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014607:Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*