Objective To observe the fundus imaging characteristics of different stages of syphilitic posterior uveitis. Methods Retrospective cases series. Forty-six eyes of 32 patients with syphilitic posterior uveitis were included. There were 14 patients (16 eyes) and 18 patients (30 eyes) were assigned to acute stage group (with the course ＜2 months) and chronic stage group (with the course ≥2 months) respectively. All eyes received the examination of indirect ophthalmoscopy, color fundus photography, fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). All patients received regular anti-syphilitic treatment. Color fundus photography and OCT were followed after treatment. The fundus imaging characteristics of different stages of syphilitic posterior uveitis were observed. Results Indirect ophthalmoscopy and fundus color photography showed that in the acute stage group, there were 3/16 eyes with optic disc edema; 4/16 eyes with a yellowish, placoid lesion involving the macular. There were only some pigment alterations on the fundus after treatment. In the chronic stage group, there were 4/30 eyes with optic disc hyperemia, 3/30 eyes with cystoid macular edema. After treatment, the optic hyperemia vanished gradually, but there were still some pigment alterations. The FFA images of two groups showed various vascular leakages. In the chronic stage group, patients also showed hyper-fluorescence with cystoid macular edema. The patients with course 2 – 3 years have more transmitted fluorescence on FFA. OCT showed that all eyes in the acute stage group had lost the ellipsoid zone, with irregular granular reflectivity of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer, 6 eyes with subretinal fluid in the macular. After treatment, the ellipsoid zone and RPE layer structure recovered gradually. In the chronic stage group, all eyes showed widespread loss of the ellipsoid zone, pigment migration and (or) cystoid macular edema. After treatment, the ellipsoid zone showed partial recovery. The outer ellipsoid zone was still discontinuous in patients with long duration. Conclusions Syphilitic posterior uveitis patients generally had normal fundus, but some cases had a yellowish, placoid lesion involving the macular. FFA showed various vascular leakages, and the chronic stage group showed more transmitted fluorescence. The major OCT change was loss of the ellipsoid zone or with subretinal fluid. After treatment, fundus showed no abnormal manifestations except some pigment alterations; the ellipsoid zone structure recovered gradually in acute stage eyes, partially recovered in chronic stage eyes.
Acquired syphilis uveitis, due to lack of the characteristic features, presents with various types. The most common type is posterior uveitis and panuveitis, including chorioretinitis, retinal vasculitis, optic nerve retinitis. The diagnosis and assessment of response to treatment depends mainly on the serological diagnostic tests, including nontreponemal and treponemal test. Acquired syphilis uveitis often presents with manifestations similar to various types of uveitis, especially to autoimmune uveitis and other infectious uveitis, so differential diagnosis is important. The gold standard treatment for active syphilitic uveitis is penicillin G, or doxycycline if patient is allergy to penicillin. Clinically misdiagnosis and delayed treatment may result in irreversible visual impairment and severe systemic and eye complications. However such timely treatment always has a good prognosis.