Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis Complicated by Severe Exudative Retinal Detachment and Orbital Granuloma Successfully Controlled with Rituximab: A Case Report.

We report a rare case of severe exudative retinal detachment with orbital granuloma associated with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). A 42-year-old man developed bilateral conjunctival hyperemia and eye pain 15 months before presenting to us. Because vitreous cells and retinal detachment were detected in his left eye, he was referred to us for further evaluation.

[Clinical Survey of Uveitis in Tokyo Medical and Dental University--Comparison between the Periods of 1998-2001 and 2007-2011].

Purpose: To investigate a clinical survey of uveitis in Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital.

Subjects And Methods: The clinical records of patients with uveitis who were treated from October 1998 to December 2001 and from January 2007 to December 2011 were reviewed. The clinical results of both periods were compared.

Clinical course of patients with Behçet's uveitis following discontinuation of infliximab therapy.

Purpose: To investigate the clinical course of Behçet's uveitis patients following discontinuation of infliximab therapy.

Methods: This retrospective chart review study examined Behçet's disease patients who received infliximab treatment between 2000 and 2012. Medical records of patients whose infliximab treatment was discontinued were reviewed, with special focus on the frequency of uveitis attacks in the period before initiation, during treatment and after cessation of the infliximab therapy.

Choroidal thickness in convalescent vogt-koyanagi-harada disease.

Purpose: To evaluate the subfoveal choroidal thickness (SCT) at the convalescent stage of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease and to investigate the correlations among SCT, the presence of the sunset glow fundus, and size of the peripapillary atrophy (PPA).

Methods: The medical records of consecutive patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease without active intraocular inflammation were reviewed, and one eye was randomly chosen for analyses. The disease duration was more than 3 years.

Human immunodeficiency virus-related retinal microangiopathy and systemic cytomegalovirus disease association.

Purpose: To determine whether there is a significant association between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related retinal microangiopathy and systemic cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in HIV-infected patients.

Methods: Participants in this single-center, cross-sectional, retrospective study were 383 HIV-infected patients assessed for ocular manifestations before the beginning of antiretroviral therapy. The presence of HIV-related retinal microangiopathy, the presence of systemic CMV disease, laboratory data, and demographic information were determined by referring to medical records.

Role of IL-22- and TNF-α-producing Th22 cells in uveitis patients with Behcet's disease.

Behçet's disease is a systemic inflammatory disorder with recurrent episodes of oral ulceration, skin lesions, genital ulceration, and intraocular inflammation (uveitis). The intraocular inflammation is strictly associated with Th effector cells. IL-22 is a member of the IL-10 cytokine family that is involved in inflammatory processes.

Indocyanine green angiography findings in initial acute pretreatment Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease in Japanese patients.

Purpose: Indocyanine green angiography (IA) is a highly sensitive method to evaluate choroidal inflammatory lesions. We present standardized IA findings of initial acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease in Japanese patients before therapeutical intervention.

Methods: Medical records of patients with VKH disease at Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital and Miyata Eye Hospital were retrospectively analyzed.

Regression of optic disc neovascularization in patients with Behçet's uveoretinitis after infliximab therapy.

Purpose: Optic disc neovascularization (NVD) in patients with Behçet's uveoretinitis is a relatively uncommon but severe complication that lacks standardized treatments. We report 2 cases of Behçet's uveoretinitis that achieved partial regression of NVD after infliximab therapy.

Methods: Intravenous infliximab infusions were administrated to 2 immunosuppressive therapy-resistant Behçet's uveoretinitis patients with severe NVD accompanied by vitreous hemorrhage (both eyes in case 1 and the left eye in case 2 ).

[Effects and safety of infliximab administration in refractory uveoretinitis with Behçet's disease].

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of infliximab administration in refractory uveoretinitis in Behçet's disease (BD).

Methods: The subjects were 22 consecutive BD patients with refractory uveoretinitis treated with infliximab. Three patients dropped out from the therapy.

Seroprevalence of Bartonella henselae in patients with uveitis and healthy individuals in Tokyo.

Purpose: To compare the seroprevalence of Bartonella henselae, a pathogen of cat scratch disease, in patients with uveitis and in healthy individuals.

Methods: Serum samples were collected from 197 consecutive patients with various entities of uveitis at Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital, and from 83 healthy age- and sex-matched volunteers. Anti-Bartonella IgG and IgM antibodies were examined by indirect immunofluorescent antibody.

A clinical survey of uveitis in HTLV-1 endemic region.

Purpose: To investigate a clinical survey of uveitis in southern Kyushu of Japan, where human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and toxoplasmosis is highly endemic.

Methods: The clinical records of patients with uveitis between 1975 and 2007 at Miyata Eye Hospital were reviewed.

Results: A total number of 1338 patients (2012 eyes), consisting of 526 men and 812 women with mean age of 50.

Comparison of infliximab versus ciclosporin during the initial 6-month treatment period in Behçet disease.

Aim: To compare the efficacy and safety of infliximab versus ciclosporin A (CsA) in refractory uveoretinitis in Behçet disease.

Methods: In this retrospective clinical chart review of patients with Behçet disease who were treated with CsA or infliximab, we collected information on the number of uveitis attacks, visual acuity and adverse side effects that occurred during the 6 months prior to and after the initiation of CsA (n=20) or infliximab (n=17).

Results: The number of acute episodes of uveitis during the 6 months before and after initiation of CsA were 3.

Interleukin-17 causes neutrophil mediated inflammation in ovalbumin-induced uveitis in DO11.10 mice.

T cell-mediated uveitis is strongly associated with many systemic inflammatory disorders. Th17 cells are a novel T cell subset characterized by production of interleukin (IL)-17. In this study, we used DO11.

Suboptimal therapy controls clinically apparent disease but not subclinical progression of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.

Purpose: To evaluate clinical and angiographic differences in patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease during the early 4-month treatment phase with high- or medium-dose systemic corticosteroid therapy.

Methods: VKH patients treated at the Centre for Ophthalmic Specialized Care, Lausanne, Switzerland (n = 4), or the Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan (n = 5), underwent a pre-treatment indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) and a follow-up ICGA four months after treatment began. Lausanne patients received high-dose, systemic corticosteroid therapy, with or without immunosuppressive therapy.

Nucleotide oligomerization domain-2 (NOD2)-induced uveitis: dependence on IFN-gamma.

Purpose: Nucleotide oligomerization domain-2 (NOD2) plays an important role in innate immunity to sense muramyl dipeptide (MDP), a component of bacterial cell walls. Notably, NOD2 is linked to eye inflammation because mutations in NOD2 cause a granulomatous type of uveitis called Blau syndrome. A mouse model of NOD2-dependent ocular inflammation was employed to test the role of a cytokine strongly implicated in granuloma formation, IFN-gamma, in order to gain insight into downstream functional consequences of NOD2 activation within the eye triggering uveitis.

Therapy for acute retinal necrosis.

Acute retinal necrosis is a progressive necrotizing retinopathy caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) or varicella zoster virus (VZV). The mainstay of its treatment is antiviral therapy against these pathogenic organisms, such as intravenous acyclovir or oral valacyclovir. Systemic and topical corticosteroids together with antiviral therapy are used as an anti-inflammatory treatment to minimize damages to the optic nerve and retinal blood vessels.

In vivo imaging of the immune response in the eye.

The immune system is governed by dynamic events involving in part direct intercellular interactions between an immune cell and other cells or the cell's environment. Owing to its unique optical characteristics, the eye offers remarkable opportunities for the analysis of the immune system by intravital microscopy. In this review, we present a brief overview of the current state of knowledge of leukocyte trafficking in each of three anatomically distinct and medically important regions of the eye (cornea, iris, retina) as determined by the application of intravital microscopy to animal models of disease.

[Detection of herpesvirus genome by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR in ocular fluids of patients with acute retinal necrosis].

Purpose: The human herpesvirus (HHV) family consists of types 1 to 8 (HHV1-8). The purpose of this study was to investigate the detection of HHV DNA, especially HSV1 (herpes simplex virus 1, HHV1), HSV2 (herpes simplex virus 2, HHV2), and VZV (varicella-zoster virus, HHV3) in ocular fluids of patients with acute retinal necrosis(ARN).

Methods: The intraocular genome for HHV1-8 was determined in 19 ocular fluid samples (12 vitreous fluid and 7 aqueous humor samples) taken from ARN patients (n=14).

Kinetics of aqueous flare, intraocular pressure and virus-DNA copies in a patient with cytomegalovirus iridocyclitis without retinitis.

Background: A case report of recurrent unilateral granulomatous iridocyclitis with ocular hypertension without retinitis caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV) in an immunocompetent patient.

Methods: Aqueous humor was analysed by multiplex PCR to detect viral DNA, and real-time PCR was used to evaluate virus copies before and after anti-virus treatments. Inflammation of the anterior chamber was evaluated by a laser flare photometry.

Work-up, diagnosis and management of acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease: a case of acute myopization with granulomatous uveitis.

Purpose: In its typical form and when seen at onset, Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) is characterized by easily recognizable signs that allow diagnosis without difficulty. In cases that do not have acute onset, that are seen at a later stage or that do not show the complete set of signs, appraisal is more difficult and diagnosis may cause difficulties. We present here a case of bilateral granulomatous uveitis compatible with VKH disease in order to allow several experts to give their opinion on the most appropriate manner to confirm or reject the diagnosis and their approach to the management of the case.

Evaluation of characteristic ocular signs and systemic investigations in ocular sarcoidosis patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic values of ocular signs and systemic investigations in ocular sarcoidosis, in a retrospective case-control study.

Methods: Subjects were 67 consecutive uveitis patients with biopsy-proven sarcoidosis and 111 control patients with other clinical uveitis entities. The predictive values analyzed were sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV).

Phacoemulsification cataract extraction and intraocular lens implantation in patients with uveitis.

Purpose: To analyze the outcomes of phacoemulsification cataract extraction and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in patients with uveitis.

Setting: Miyata Eye Hospital, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki, Japan.

Methods: The records of 95 patients (131 eyes) with uveitis who had phacoemulsification cataract extraction and IOL implantation between 1990 and 2001 were retrospectively examined.

Cross-reaction between tyrosinase peptides and cytomegalovirus antigen by T cells from patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.

Aim: To determine whether T lymphocytes of patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease cross-react with peptides of melanocytes and with exogenous antigens.

Methods: Cross-reactivity with melanocyte peptides, tyrosinase (tyrosinase(450-462): SYLQDSDPDSFQD) and the mimic virus peptide, i.e.

Ocular infiltrating CD4+ T cells from patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease recognize human melanocyte antigens.

Purpose: To determine whether patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease have immune responses specific to the melanocyte antigens tyrosinase and gp100.

Methods: T-cell clones (TCCs) were established from cells infiltrating the aqueous humor and from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with VKH. The target cells were LDR4-transfected cells (HLA-DRB1*0405).

[Disc neovascularization in a patient with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease and efficacy of steroid pulse therapy].

Purpose: To report a patient with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease who developed neovascularization at the optic disc.

Case: A 19-year-old woman visited our hospital two months after becoming aware of fever, headache, tinnitus, hearing disturbance, and floaters in the right eye. Ophthalmic examination disclosed granulomatous inflammation in the anterior segment, sunset glow fundus and neovascularization at the optic disc.