Serpiginous choroiditis (SC): patterns of progression and role of tuberculous infection.

Purpose To relate patterns of progression and role of tuberculosis (TB) infection in serpiginous choroiditis (SC) by reviewing a series of cases of SC seen at Centre for Ophthalmic Specialized Care (COS), Lausanne, Switzerland and at the Ophthalmology Department of Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy. Methods Retrospective review of clinical data, visual field (VF), fluorescein angiographic (FA), indocyanine green angiographic (ICGA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) features and TB infectious status in cases of SC. Results In the time span of 9 years 16 SC cases were seen in the two centres. Interferon gamma release assays (IGRA) revealed positivity for latent tubercular infection in 11 out of 16 patients. Patterns of evolution under immunosuppressive therapy differed between the TB positive and TB negative cases Conclusion Even in non endemic areas TB infection, as a cause of SC has to be excluded. Typical behaviour of TB related SC is relentless progression despite immunosuppressive therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]