title: Long-Term Drug-Free Remission and Visual Outcomes in Sympathetic Ophthalmia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess corticosteroid- and immunosuppressive therapy (IST)-free long-term remission in the treatment of patients with sympathetic ophthalmia (SO), a vision-robbing disease that can span a lifetime.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of 19 patients with SO aged 16.1 to 94.95 years (median age 58.56 years) with median follow-up of 7.10 years (mean, 6.41; range, 2.5 to 8.63 years) were retrospectively examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients achieved control of inflammation, 13 of them for 2 years or more. Three (15.78%) of the 19 patients maintained remission without IST and corticosteroids for more than 5 years with vision of 20/25 or better in the sympathizing eye. Thirteen patients (68.42%) were inactive on IST or corticosteroids or in combination therapy. Eleven patients (57.9%) maintained visual acuity of 20/40 or better at the end of follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even with a devastating and possibly lifelong disease like sympathetic ophthalmia, long-term remission off all IST and corticosteroids, and perhaps even cure, is possible.
authors.affiliation: a Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution , Waltham , Massachusetts , USA.|b Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation , Waltham , Massachusetts , USA.|c Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA.
authors.forename: Abhishek R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Payal
authors.affiliation: a Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution , Waltham , Massachusetts , USA.|b Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation , Waltham , Massachusetts , USA.|d Harvard Medical School , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.
authors.forename: C Stephen
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Foster
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009879:Ophthalmia, Sympathetic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents