Objective To observe the clinical features and treatment outcomes of presumed tubercular retinal vasculitis. Methods This is a retrospective non-comparative interventional clinical research. A total of nine patients (11 eyes) with major presentation of retinal vasculitis were included in this study. Patients first consulted the eye clinic and were diagnosed presumed tubercular retinal vasculitis. The patients, seven males and two females, aged from 19 to 66 years, with an average of 43.89 years. The time interval from symptoms to diagnosis ranged from two weeks to six months with an average of 76.27 days. Visual acuity, slit lamp ophthalmoscopy, fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), hematological and tuberculosis related investigations were examined and analyzed. All patients had standard anti-tuberculosis treatment. Treatment outcomes were followed for six to 37 months with an average of 14.11 months. Results Baseline visual acuity ranged from hand movement to 0.8 with an average of 0.28. Among 11 eyes, six presented mild to moderate vitritis, five presented as retinal vein occlusion with no obvious vitirits. Fundus examination showed six cases with retinal hemorrhage, four cases with macular edema, two with macular epiretinal membrane, and two with vitreous hemorrhage. FFA revealed 11 cases with leakage of vessels, 11 with nonperfusion area, four with macular edema, three with retinal neovascularization, and two with choroidal lesions. OCT of nine eyes suggested six eyes with retinal edema, three with macular edema, three with macular epiretinal membrane. TST of seven patients were all b positive. T-SPOT.TB of four patients were all positive. Three of eight patients who had chest X-ray or chest CT were suggested tuberculosis infection. Four to six weeks after the start of anti-tuberculosis treatment, vitritis, exudates, retinal and macular edema subsided. During follow up, inflammation was stable with no recurrence observed. The visual acuity of last follow-up ranged from 0.15 to 0.8 with an average of 0.51. Conclusions The main presentations of presumed tubercular retinal vasculitis are vitritis, retinal vein occlusion, and retinal hemorrhage. Standard anti-tuberculosis treatment can improve inflammation and retinal hemorrhage.
Objective To observe the multimodal imaging characteristics of the eyes in patients with presumed tuberculous retinal vasculitis. Methods A retrospective case series study. A total of 15 patients (22 eyes) diagnosed with presumed tuberculous retinal vasculitis and receiving anti-tuberculosis treatment (ATT) effectively in Department of Ophthalmology, Subei People's Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University from January 2018 to April 2021 were included. Among them, there were 5 males and 10 females. Seven had bilateral involvement and 8 had unilateral involvement. The age was 49.3±11.1 years old. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fundus colour photography, wide-angle fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were performed in all patients. Indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) was performed in 7 eyes. The BCVA examination was performed with the international standard visual acuity chart, which was converted into the logarithm of minimal angel resolution vision (logMAR). Systemic tuberculosis-related examinations included chest CT, serum T-spot, purified protein derivative and other tuberculosis-related tests. All patients were treated with systemic anti-tuberculosis therapy. The follow-up time was ＞12 months. The multimodal imaging characteristics for affected eyes. Nonparametric test was used to compare BCVA before and after treatment. ResultsThe retinal vessels of all the affected eyes were tortuously dilated, including 3 eyes with vascular white scabbard, 5 eyes with scattered bleeding point at the retina inculding 3 eyes walking along the vessels. The lesions were mainly distributed in the middle and periphery of the retina, and some of them involved the posterior pole; 12 eyes (54.5%, 12/22) with simple retinal vasculitis and 10 eyes (45.5%, 10/22) with retinal vasculitis complicated with choroiditis. Tuberculous retinal vasculitis showed different degrees of retinal vascular leakage on FFA, mainly retinal vein and capillary leakage, not involving arteries; 16 eyes (72.7%, 16/22) of retinal vasculitis showed peripheral occlusive retinal vasculitis and 4 eyes (18.2%, 4/22) were associated with retinal neovascularization. In 10 eyes with choroiditis, there were multiple focal choroiditis lesions of different sizes under the retina. Of the 7 eyes examined by ICGA, the choroidal inflammatory lesions showed hypofluorescent dark dots (HDD) in 5 eyes (71.4%,5/7), showing HDDs of different sizes, most of which were distributed in the posterior pole and middle periphery. In 10 eyes with retinal vasculitis complicated with choroiditis after ATT, the accumulation of hyper-reflective substances above and below the retinal pigment epithelium layer of the retina was gradually absorbed, but not completely disappeared, and most of the disorders of retinal structure could not be recovered. The average logMAR visual acuity was 0.61±0.57 before treatment and 0.36±0.55 after treatment. The BCVA after treatment was significantly higher than that before treatment (Z=－3.102, P＜0.01). ConclusionsPeripheral occlusive retinal vasculitis is the most common manifestation of tuberculous retinal vasculitis in FFA, which may be accompanied by focal choroidal inflammatory lesions. Wide-angle FFA and ICGA are more important in the diagnosis of tuberculous retinal vasculitis. OCT can be used for monitoring the changes of inflammation.