1,720,966 research outputs found
Studio longitudinale delle manifestazioni neuroftalmologiche in pazienti affetti da sindrome da immunodeficienza acquisita
No full text
Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease and HLA type in Italian patients
No full textPURPOSE: To study the frequencies of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) specificities in Italian patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease and to correlate the presence of each specificity to the clinical features. METHODS: Human leukocyte antigen specificities were determined by standard microlymphocyto-toxicity assay in 16 patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease and compared with HLA specificities of 116 healthy controls, RESULTS: HLA-DR4 was statistically related to Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (P = .0063), whereas only a trend toward a significant association between the disease and HLA-B41 was found (P = .06). HLA-DQ1 was detected in a disproportionate number of controls (68.9%) compared with patients (31.5%). CONCLUSIONS: HLA-DR4 was significantly related to Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease in Caucasian European patients, specifically in Italian patients, as it was described in other racial groups. No clear relation was found between the ophthalmologic and systemic manifestations of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease and the presence of HLA specificities
Interferon alpha for ocular Behçet's disease.
No full textPurpose: To investigate the therapeutic role of interferon a in ocular Behcet's disease. Methods: Three patients with B- or C-hepatitis and ocular sight-threatening Behcet's disease unresponsive to steroids were treated subcutaneously with interferon a 3 x 10(6)/unit three times per week for a mean period of 22 months (range: 12-31 months). The course of ocular and systemic lesions was recorded and compared with a similar pre-treatment period. Results: At least a 50% reduction in the number of ocular relapses was observed in all the patients (mean relapse/month: 0.41 versus 0.16 in the pre-and in-treatment period, respectively) while during therapy also each relapse lasted less in all subjects. A reduction of steroid dependence was observed in all patients,,while no significant side-effects were related to interferon a administration, Two patients who tried to stop interferon a therapy showed after a mean period of 12.5 days a recurrence of diffuse uveitis and, one of them experienced oral and genital aphthae as well. Conclusion: In patients with Behcet's disease interferon a seems to be a useful alternative therapy for sight-threatening ocular involvement
Prognosis of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis-associated uveitis
No full textPURPOSE. To evaluate the clinical characteristics and the visual prognosis of uveitis in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). METHODS. The authors examined 63 patients with uveitis and JRA observed from January 1985 to December 2000. The following characteristics of each patient were considered: age at first visit, age at onset of uveitis and arthritis, sex, laterality and localization of uveitis, ocular complications, antinuclear antibody (ANA) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DR11 positivity, and follow-up. A retrospective study on mid-time visual outcome and ocular complications was performed on 42 patients with more than 12 months of follow-up. RESULTS. A total of 76.2% of the patients were female, with a mean age of 8.1 years. Chronic anterior uveitis was bilateral in 77.8% of the cases and unilateral in 22.2%. Arthritis was oligoarticular at onset in 87.3% of cases, and polyarticular in 12.7%. Mean age at arthritis onset was 4.5 years and mean age at uveitis onset was 5.4 years. ANA were positive in 92% of cases and HLA DR11 was present in 36 of the 43 patients tested (83.7%). Among the 42 patients with more than 12 months of follow-up, ocular complications occurred in 90.5% of cases and the most frequent were cataract (64.4% of eyes) and band keratopathy (59.2% of eyes). Secondary glaucoma (25% of eyes) was associated with the worst visual prognosis. A total of 64.5% of eyes maintained a visual acuity between 20/33 and 20/20 at the end of the follow-up. CONCLUSIONS. Visual prognosis of uveitis associated with JRA is improving, owing to earlier diagnosis and intensive treatment. Ocular complications occurred frequently in patients with uveitis and JRA but they did not seem to seriously affect the final visual outcome. The authors did not observe any correlation between prognosis and sex, age at the onset of uveitis or arthritis, pattern of arthritis, or positivity for ANA or HLA DR11. In a percentage of cases, uveitis may develop before arthritis or years after the onset of arthritis; therefore, continuous ophthalmologic examinations are needed in young people with JRA
Flora batterica congiuntivale in pazienti affetti da sindrome da immunodeficienza acquisita.
No full text
- …
