Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease: diagnosis and treatments update.
OBJECTIVE
To review current advances in the diagnosis and therapy of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease.


RESULTS
A new T-cell subset (Th17) may play an important role in the initiation and maintenance of inflammatory disease when stimulated by the interleukin (IL)-23, thus producing IL-17. Recent developments of new imaging techniques, such as high-resolution optical coherence tomography 3 scanner (OCT3), have allowed greater accuracy in VKH disease diagnosis. The OCT3 examinations have shown that cystoid spaces appear in the neurosensory layer (between the inner and outer segments of photoreceptors) and not in the subretinal space. This structural finding was also supported by functional studies with multifocal electroretinography that measured the photoreceptors activity. Antimetabolites (azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil and methotrexate), T-cell inhibitors (cyclosporine and tacrolimus) and biologic agents, associated with the well known glucocorticosteroids therapy, showed good results in acute and chronic phases of the disease. Intravitreal triamcinolone and bevacizumab were reported to have encouraging results for progressive or stubborn cases of VKH disease.


CONCLUSIONS
To uphold visual acuity, an early, fast and accurate diagnosis is necessary, followed by an aggressive and lengthy immunosuppressive treatment.
Bordaberry
Marcela F
MF
Department of Ophthalmology, Santa Casa Hospital, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. mbordaberry@hotmail.com
D004596:Electroretinography; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D020419:Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate / Q000473:pathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014607:Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents