Subretinal fibrosis and choroidal neovascularization in Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome.

Background: To describe clinical findings of subretinal fibrosis and choroidal neovascularization in patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 75 medical records of patients with VKH seen at the National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland between 1978 and 1996. Recorded data included age, gender, race, duration of disease, extraocular manifestations, best-corrected visual acuity, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, retinal examination, retinal photographs and fluorescein angiograms. We sought features that correlated with the visual outcome.

Results: Thirty of 75 (40%) patients developed subretinal fibrosis. Eleven patients (14.7%) had choroidal neovascularization. Presence of subretinal fibrosis was associated with a longer duration of the disease (42.6 vs 19.1 months, P = 0.07). Patients with subretinal fibrosis had worse visual acuity than those without subretinal fibrosis (26.2 vs 57.3 ETDRS letters read, P < 0.001) after adjusting for duration of disease (P = 0.021), degree of vitreous haze (P = 0.074), and use of immunosuppressive therapy (P = 0.008).

Conclusions: Presence of subretinal fibrosis in patients with VKH is associated with a poor visual prognosis. The diagnosis of choroidal neovascularization and subretinal fibrosis presents a challenge in the management of this disease.