Evaluation of the effect on outcomes of the route of administration of corticosteroids in acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.

Purpose: To compare the effect on outcomes of the route of administration of corticosteroids in acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.

Design: Retrospective comparative interventional case series.

Settings: Nine international uveitis specialty clinics.

Study Population: Forty-eight patients presenting over a three-year period to a study center with acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.

Intervention: Initial treatment with corticosteroid either orally (Oral only group) or intravenously followed by an oral taper (IV+Oral group).

Main Outcome Measures: Change in visual acuity with treatment; development of ocular complications, including visually significant cataract, choroidal neovascularization, subretinal fibrosis, fundus pigment migration, nummular hypopigmented lesions, and diffuse fundus depigmentation; use of immunosuppressive therapy.

Results: The Oral only group comprised 15 patients (31%) and the IV+Oral group 33 patients (69%). Median follow-up was 15 months. There was no difference in duration of follow-up between groups (P = .234). There was no difference in the change in visual acuity between groups, adjusting for initial visual acuity (P = .402). There were no differences in the rates of development of visually significant cataract, fundus pigmentary changes, or in the rate of use of subsequent immunosuppressive therapy between treatment groups. No patients developed choroidal neovascularization or subretinal fibrosis over the study period.

Conclusions: Route of administration of corticosteroid had no detectable effect on change in visual acuity nor on the development of visually significant complications over the study period. Prospective trials are necessary to address speed of resolution and definitively answer outcome questions.