Multifocal choroiditis less common, more devastating

Although multifocal choroiditis is a less common manifestation of uveitis, it appears to be associated with a worse visual prognosis despite medical therapy, according to a study.

Aires Lobo, MRCOphth, and colleagues at Moorfields Eye Hospital in England studied 75 patients who had uveitis with a confirmed diagnosis of sarcoidosis. All patients were followed for a minimum of 6 months. The risk of poor outcome (visual acuity of 6/12 or less) was compared in the various types of uveitis.

Poor visual outcome was significantly more frequent in multifocal choroiditis (71.4%) and in panuveitis without multifocal choroiditis (46.4%) than in patients with anterior uveitis (12.5%). The excess risks remained significant after adjustment for confounding effects of other prognostic factors including age, sex and manifest systemic sarcoidosis, the authors wrote in Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.

Causes of visual loss were determined to be cataract, glaucoma, macular edema, vitreous hemorrhage and retinal detachment.