Uveitis and intraocular treponemes

Uveitis: a strategy for diagnosis

Uveitis may be the first presentation of a wide variety of underlying ocular and systemic diseases. It is important for the ophthalmologist to make a specific diagnosis in order to instigate specific therapy and give an accurate prognosis. The ability to recognise the clinical patterns of uveitis and to initiate appropriate investigations should form the basis of the ophthalmologist's management of the condition. To this end, we have considered uveitis under four major patterns of presentation--anterior uveitis, intermediate uveitis, posterior uveitis, and panuveitis--with subclasses within each of these four groups. We have outlined both the investigations which facilitate diagnosis of the possible underlying causes of inflammation and the interpretation of the results of such investigations.

Optic neuritis--etiology?

A 44-year-old otherwise healthy woman was referred to Washington University with previous diagnoses of para planitis and retrobulbar neuritis, and with a current complaint of markedly decreased vision (light perception only) in the right eye. Among the findings at the time of this evaluation were posterior uveitis and evidence of optic neuropathy and of a disordered immune system. The patient responded to pulsed high-dose corticosteroid therapy. A subsequent similar episode in the left eye also was resolved with such treatment. Dr. Burde describes the case in detail and asks Drs. Keltner, Gittinger and Miller to offer diagnoses. Their answers vary considerably.