Clinical course of HTLV-I-associated uveitis

Purpose: To define the long-term clinical course and visual outcome of huma n T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated uveitis (HAU). Methods: We reviewed the clinical data on 96 eves of 70 patients, 26 men an d 44 women, with HAU, with specific reference to recurrence of the disease and long-term visual outcome. The mean follow-up period was 83 months (rang e, 12-276 months). Results: The mean age of onset was 42.5 years (range, 7-78 years of age), w ith men presenting at a significantly younger age. Forty-seven patients had isolated HAU; in 10 patients, HTLV-I-associated myelopathy occurred before or after the onset of HAU; in 14 patients, hyperthyroidism had preceded HA U. A single episode of mild to moderate acute uveal inflammation with resol ution in a few weeks or more occurred in 44 (67.9%) patients, and multiple episodes in 26 (37.1%), with a mean interval of 16 months (range, 1-250 mon ths), which affected the same eye, fellow eye, or both. The majority of pat ients had favorable visual outcome at the last examination, whereas only a few patients suffered poor vision resulting from steroid cataract and retin ochoroidal degeneration. Conclusions: The clinical course of HAU is virtually benign and its visual outcome is favorable, although its recurrence is common. The uveitis is usu ally isolated and affects a portion of otherwise unremarkable HTLV-I carrie rs, but it may sometimes be manifest as a symptom of syndromic diseases suc h as HTLV-I-associated myelopathy or hyperthyroidism. This study describes for the first time cases of HAU that occurred many years before manifestati on of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy. (C) 1999 Japanese Ophthalmological Soci ety.