[Clinical and etiological aspects of uveitis: a retrospective study of 121 patients referred to a tertiary centre of ophthalmology].
OBJECTIVE
Uveitis consists of a large group of diseases characterized by intraocular inflammation involving the uveal tract. This heterogeneity makes the diagnosis and the treatment of uveitis frequently challenging. The purpose of this study was to describe the various clinical and etiologic aspects of uveitis, through the new standardized uveitis classification and the use of modern investigations for its diagnostic work-up.


METHODS
The medical records of 121 new patients with uveitis referred to our tertiary ophthalmologic centre between January 2002 and December 2006 were retrospectively reviewed. Uveitis associated to human immunodeficiency virus and secondary to exogenous endophthalmitis were excluded. All patients had a complete ophthalmological examination and appropriate clinical and paraclinical examination. The diagnosis was established according to the recent international criteria.


RESULTS
One hundred and twenty-one patients were included. The four main etiologies were: toxoplasmosis (14%), sarcoidosis (11.6%), spondylarthritis or HLA B27-associated uveitis (13.2%) and Herpes virus infections (9.1%) that represented almost half of the uveitis causes (47.9%). Various diseases constituted the remaining causes of the uveitis (20.9%). Uveitis remained unexplained in the remaining 36 patients (29.7%). Overall, associated systemic diseases were diagnosed in 35.5% of our uveitis patients (34 patients), associated infectious conditions in 26.4% (32 patients) and specific ocular diseases in 8.3% (12 patients).


CONCLUSIONS
Despite a limited number of patients, our study showed an etiologic distribution similar to that of the main series reported in the literature. Nevertheless, we observed an elevated frequency of sarcoidosis and systemic diseases, which emphasizes a management that takes into account standardized clinical and paraclinical criteria and the usefulness of a collaboration with the internist.
Nguyen
A-M
AM
Service d'ophtalmologie, hôpital de la Croix-Rousse, hospices civils de Lyon, 103 Grande-Rue de la Croix-Rousse, Lyon cedex 04, France. anhminh.nguyen.oph@gmail.com
Sève
P
P
Le Scanff
J
J
Gambrelle
J
J
Fleury
J
J
Broussolle
C
C
Grange
J-D
JD
Kodjikian
L
L
D000328:Adult; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D009887:Ophthalmoscopy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014605:Uveitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology