European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Uveitis is a term used to describe inflammatory processes of the portion of the eye known as the uvea, which is composed of the iris, ciliary body and the choroid; however, any area of the eye can be inflamed. Uveitis is most often idiopathic but has been associated with traumatic, inflammatory, and infectious processes. Patients may present with concurrent systemic symptoms or infectious diseases to suggest an etiology affecting more than just the eye. Idiopathic cases of uveitis account for 48 to 70% of uveitis cases.
Materials and methods: This prospective and observational study was undertaken with all new uveitis cases attending the Department of Ophthalmology, Tertiary care Teaching hospital over a period of 1 year. A standard clinical protocol and detailed investigations were to find out the specific cause of uveitis. All patients above 18 years of age either gender having uveitis. Patients who could not be worked up completely as per protocol or did not give consent for the study were excluded.
Results: Anterior uveitis presented in 42 (60) cases, 12 (17.1%) patients were idiopathic followed by Tuberculosis in 5 (7.2%) and HLA B27 in 6 (8.7%) patients. Intermediate uveitis was idiopathic while specific diagnosis made in 2 patients; i.e. sarcoidosis in 9 (12.9%) patient and ulcerative colitis in 1 (1.4%) patient. Posterior uveitis comprised of tuberculosis associated posterior uveitis was most common etiology seen in 1 (1.4%) patients. Out of 1 patients of tuberculosis related posterior uveitis; 2 patients had multifocal choroiditis and 1 patient had tuberculoma with serous retinal detachment. Panuveitis recorded in (n=2) patients, 1 (5.7%) patient was suffering from Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada’s (VKH) disease and other was idiopathic.
Conclusion: Our study recommends that patients with uveitis should undergo comprehensive ocular and systemic investigations to find the underlying etiology. All the patients must be managed according to the type of uveitis, they are suffering from and a watch should be kept on all the possible likely complications which will help a lot in preventing blindness from uveitis