• Users Online: 20037
  • Home
  • Print this page
  • Email this page
SYMPOSIUM
Year : 2010  |  Volume : 58  |  Issue : 1  |  Page : 45-54

Current approach in the diagnosis and management of panuveitis


Department of Ophthalmology, Advanced Eye Centre, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

Correspondence Address:
Vishali Gupta
Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh-160 012
India
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/0301-4738.58471

Rights and Permissions

Panuveitis is a generalized inflammation of not only the whole of the uveal tract but also involves the retina and vitreous humor. It differs from other anatomical sites of inflammation in terms of causes as well as distribution. The common causes of panuveitis in our population are tuberculosis, Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome, sympathetic ophthalmia, Behcet's disease and sarcoidosis. A large number of cases still remain idiopathic. A stepwise approach is essential while evaluating these patients to be able to identify and treat the disease timely and correctly. Ancillary tests can be appropriately applied once the anatomic site of inflammation is identified. An exhaustive approach comprising a full battery of tests is obsolete. Only specific tailored investigations are ordered as suggested by the preliminary clinical and ocular examination. The mainstay of the treatment of uveitis is corticosteroids. Immunosuppressive agents are administered if the inflammation is not adequately controlled with corticosteroids. One of the recent breakthroughs in the treatment of refractory uveitis includes the introduction of immunomodulating drugs: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha antagonist and Interferon-alpha. Vitrectomy has been used in uveitis for over a few decades for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. When compared to other anatomical sites of inflammation, panuveitis has poor visual outcome due to more widespread inflammation. The side-effects of the chronic treatment that these patients receive cannot be overlooked and should be specifically monitored under the supervision of an internist with special interest in inflammatory diseases.


[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
Print this article     Email this article
 Next article
 Previous article
 Table of Contents

 Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
 Related articles
 Citation Manager
 Access Statistics
 Reader Comments
 Email Alert *
 Add to My List *
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed14201    
    Printed333    
    Emailed12    
    PDF Downloaded2007    
    Comments [Add]    
    Cited by others 13    

Recommend this journal