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PURPOSE: To describe nonglaucomatous retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) defects in patients with Behcet uveitis. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study and observational case series. METHODS: We reviewed the clinical photographs of patients with Behcet uveitis (n = 259), ocular toxoplasmosis (n = 120), and multiple sclerosis (MS)-associated uveitis (n = 40) for the presence of localized RNFL defects. Behcet patients with localized RNFL defects were invited to participate in a prospective evaluation including standard automated perimetry, spectraldomain optical coherence tomography (SD OCT), and RNFL thickness analysis. Main outcome measures were the prevalence of localized RNFL defects, perimetric and SD OCT findings, and RNFL thickness analysis. RESULTS: Sixty-two patients with Behcet uveitis (24%) had localized RNFL defect(s) without any visible scar. Twenty patients (17%) with ocular toxoplasmosis had a localized RNFL defect associated with a retinochoroidal scar in all. None of the MS patients had a localized RNFL defect. Of the 19 patients (24 eyes) with RNFL defect associated with Behcet uveitis who returned for follow-up, there was a corollary thinning on SD OCT B-scan in all and a corresponding visual field defect in 83%. RNFL thickness analysis was within normal limits in 54%, but revealed thinning in the thickness profile scale in 46% and in the pie chart in 21%. CONCLUSION: In Behcet uveitis, localized RNFL defects may be caused by microvascular ischemia at the optic nerve head and/or at the posterior pole and may serve as a helpful ocular diagnostic clue and an indicator of posterior pole involvement, a risk factor for poor visual prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy in patients with severe uveitis otherwise unresponsive to conventional immunomodulatory agents. Methods: Data on five consecutive patients treated with IVIg and followed to the present time by one of the authors (CSF) were reviewed. All patients had severe and recalcitrant uveitis of diverse etiologies. Main outcome measures were control of intraocular inflammation, steroid-sparing effect, visual acuity, and side effects. Results: The duration of IVIg therapy was 3 to 36 months (mean, 16.8 months). Treatment was effective in controlling the intraocular inflammation in 3 of 5 patients. One of those patients required maintenance of systemic steroids at a dose of 10 mg per day. Visual acuity has stabilized or improved in these three patients. No immediate or long-term side effect was observed in any of the patients. Conclusions: Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy was an effective therapeutic modality in the treatment of three of five patients with severe uveitis that was unresponsive to conventional immunomodulatory agent(s). No adverse events were observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We aimed to describe the demographic and clinical features, ocular manifestations, complications, visual prognosis, and treatment in a large population of Turkish patients with Behçet uveitis. We also aimed to compare visual prognosis between male and female sex and between patients who presented before and after 1990.Design: Observational case series.Methods: A retrospective study of 880 consecutive patients (1,567 eyes) with Behçet uveitis seen at the Uveitis Service, Department of Ophthalmology, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, from 1980 to 1998. All patients met the classification criteria of the International Study Group for Behçet''s Disease. Information on the patient''s sex, age at onset of uveitis, ocular features, ocular complications, visual acuity, and systemic treatment was collected.Results: Five hundred ninety-nine patients (68%) were male and 281 (32%) were female. The mean age at onset of uveitis was 28.5 years in male and 30 years in female patients. Ocular involvement was bilateral in 78.1% and unilateral in 21.9% of the patients. Panuveitis was the most common form in both sexes. Fundus lesions as well as sight-threatening complications were more common in males. At the beginning of the follow-up, potential visual acuity was 0.1 or less in 30.9% of eyes in males and 24.2% of eyes in females. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis estimated the risks of losing useful vision (>0.1) at 5 and 10 years for males and females as 21% vs 10% and 30% vs 17%, respectively. Male patients who presented in the 1990s had a significantly lower risk of losing vision compared with male patients who presented in the 1980s.Conclusion: Behçet uveitis starts frequently around the end of the third decade and has a male predominance. The disease is more severe and the risk of losing useful vision is higher in males than in females. However, this risk has been significantly reduced in the 1990s. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: To report a child who developed kerato-uveitis associated with mumps infection.Methods: A prospective study of a child who was observed at the Department of Ophthalmology, Marmara University, Faculty of Medicine, during spring 2003.Results: An 11-year-old male patient noticed decreased vision in his left eye. His right eye was completely normal. Visual acuity was perception of hand movements in the left eye. Ocular examination revealed ciliary injection and diffuse hyperemia of the conjunctiva, interstitial keratitis characterized by prominent stromal infiltrates and edema, folds in the Descemet's membrane, and microcystic epithelial edema in his left eye. The patient had been diagnosed as having mumps 10 days previously by a pediatrician. Complete recovery of the keratitis occurred on the 10th day of topical steroid treatment.Conclusions: Keratitis and/or iritis are rare complications of mumps. Corneal involvement is characterized by unilateral and painless interstitial keratitis that may cause a significant decrease in vision. Keratitis resolves with treatment and does not have any sequelae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]