Original articleLong-term Follow-up of Intermediate Uveitis in Children
Section snippets
Methods
The study included 32 consecutive patients with onset of IU at less than 16 years of age from the tertiary referral center between 1994 and 2003, who presented with IU according to the diagnostic criteria of the International Uveitis Study Group.12 Briefly, the ocular inflammation had to involve the anterior vitreous, the peripheral retina, and the ciliary body, with or without anterior segment and without chorioretinal inflammatory signs, except snow banking.12 Anterior segment inflammation in
Results
Our series included 14 girls (44%) and 18 boys (56%). The uveitis was unilateral in two patients (6%) and bilateral in 30 patients (94%), resulting in 62 affected eyes. The mean follow-up was 4.5 years (range from six months to twelve years; 15 patients were followed for at least five years and 11 patients for at least eight years).
The mean age at onset of uveitis was 8.5 years (range three to fifteen years). The uveitis had a chronic course in all cases (disease duration of minimal 2.5 years).
Discussion
This study demonstrates that spontaneous remission of IU might occur in pediatric patients with IU. In our population, we observed remission in seven out 15 patients after five-year follow-up. Patients and parents are frequently informed that ocular inflammation might resolve during adolescence, but no exact data were available concerning remission rates in children. Since our follow-up was restricted to only a portion of our patients and our patient population was relatively small, the exact
Joke de Boer, MD, PhD, is a senior ophthalmologist at the Uveitis Clinic of the FC Donders Institute of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital Utrech, The Netherlands. She did her PhD research at The Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute on Infectious Uveitis. Dr de Boer specializes in Pediatric Uveitis and improved diagnostic tests for Infectious Uveitis using intraocular fluids of patients.
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Intermediate uveitis
Intermediate uveitis
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2022, American Journal of OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Early recognition and prompt treatment are essential to control the inflammation and to prevent visual loss. Retinal detachment, CME, and cataract are frequently reported complications and were, in our study, common causes for poor visual outcomes.7,10,17,20-22,25,26 Raised intraocular pressure emerged as the key sight-threatening complication for our study cohort.
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2021, American Journal of OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Whether that difference represents a more exuberant response to the same disease among younger patients or a different pathogenetic mechanism cannot be determined at this time. One study suggested that the course of pars planitis in childhood may be different from that in adults, with a higher rate of sustained, drug-free remissions,20 but that impression needs to be confirmed. Long-term follow-up studies of patients with and without snowbanks are needed and may help determine if those 2 subsets should continue to be considered within the spectrum of the same disorder or separate ones.
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Joke de Boer, MD, PhD, is a senior ophthalmologist at the Uveitis Clinic of the FC Donders Institute of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital Utrech, The Netherlands. She did her PhD research at The Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute on Infectious Uveitis. Dr de Boer specializes in Pediatric Uveitis and improved diagnostic tests for Infectious Uveitis using intraocular fluids of patients.