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Purpose: Clinical and histopathologic documentation of sympathetic ophthalmia (SO) development in eyes with postoperative bacterial endophthalmitis. Design: Observational case series; retrospective clinicopathologic study. Methods: All patients who presented with a clinical diagnosis of SO during 2002 to 2004 were included in the study. The diagnosis of SO was made on the basis of history of penetrating ocular injury, followed by development of bilateral intraocular inflammation, ultrasonographic detection of bilateral diffuse thickening of the choroid, or both. Patients presenting with the additional finding of hypopyon underwent an anterior chamber tap and vitreous aspirate for microbiologic detection of bacteria and fungi. Eight exciting eyes were enucleated and submitted for histologic examination. Results: Of a total of 26 patients with a clinical diagnosis of SO, four also had bacterial endophthalmitis. Of these, histologic examination of three exciting eyes revealed vitreous abscess and typical features of SO. Of the five remaining enucleated globes, histologic examination showed that two eyes had phacoanaphylactic endophthalmitis, and two others revealed features of SO; the one remaining eye had nongranulomatous diffuse choroiditis. Conclusions: Bacterial endophthalmitis cannot prevent the development of SO. Early diagnosis of coexistent mixed infectious and inflammatory processes, and initiation of antimicrobial treatment directed at the infection followed by immunomodulatory agents to address the autoimmune component may improve the prognosis in such cases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: To evaluate the reproducibility of new criteria for grading the site and activity of intraocular inflammation. Design: Cross-sectional agreement study. Methods: Grading of 202 eyes of 101 patients with uveitis was conducted by pairs of uveitis subspecialists at three uveitis subspecialty clinics. Agreement in grading location of inflammation, anterior chamber (AC) cells, AC flare, vitreous cells (present or absent), and vitreous haze was calculated. Results: Proposed criteria for grading the location of intraocular inflammation had moderate reproducibility (κ range, 0.49 to 0.61). Reproducibility improved (κ range, 0.61 to 0.73) when the newly proposed category of anterior and intermediate uveitis was excluded. The ranges of κ statistics for exact agreement on gradings of AC cells (range, 0.34 to 0.43) demonstrated low to moderate levels of agreement, and gradings of AC flare (range, 0.50 to 0.64), vitreous cells (range, 0.48 to 0.51), and vitreous haze (0.53) were in the moderate agreement range. However, agreement within 1 grade was outstanding for AC cells (κ range, 0.81 to 1.00) and vitreous haze (κ, 0.75). For AC flare, a distribution skewed toward low grades within 1 grade made κ statistics unstable. Conclusions: Proposed methods for grading inflammatory activity have moderate reproducibility for exact agreement in most instances. However, agreement within 1 grade is excellent for grading of AC cells and vitreous haze. The method for grading the site of intraocular inflammation also produces moderate levels of agreement, and in our hands was improved by excluding both anterior and intermediate uveitis. Improved methods for grading AC flare and vitreous cells are needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A preface to the April 2010 issue of the "International Ophthalmology Clinics" is presented.