RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical characters, effects of treatment, the prognosis of visual acuity and the problems in the treatment of the anterior uveitis. METHODS: The retrospective case series study was used to observe the clinical characters and treatment effects of 478 cases of anterior uveitis from January 2001 to June 2007 in Tianjin Eye Hospital. Among the 478 cases of patients, the male was 281 cases and the female was 197 cases. The mean age was (36 +/- 15) years old. Both the clinical examinations and immunologic investigations were performed. The clinical characters, effects of treatment, complications and prognosis of the anterior uveitis were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 242 cases (50.6%) with acute anterior uveitis, 197 cases (41.2%) with recurrent anterior uveitis and 39 cases (8.2%) with chronic anterior uveitis. There were 231 cases (48.3%) with idiopathic uveitis, 76 cases (15.9%) with human leukocyte antigen-B27 associated uveitis without systemic diseases, 52 cases (10.9%) with herpetic uveitis, 34 cases (7.1%) with ankylosing spondylitis, 29 cases (6.1%) with Fuchs syndrome, 24 cases (5.0%) with glaucomatocyclitic crisis and 17 cases (3.6%) with juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis. The rate of complications was 31.6% (151 cases), the rate of mild visual impairment (less than 0.5) was 11.1% (53 cases), the moderate and severe visual impairment (less than 0.3) was 7.5% (36 cases), and the rates of blindness (less than 0.05) was 2.5% (12 cases). CONCLUSIONS: The types of anterior uveitis are varied. Idiopathic anterior uveitis, human leukocyte antigen-B27 associated uveitis and herpetic uveitis are the most common entities. The careful clinical and immunologic examinations could be benefit for the etiological diagnosis and prompt treatment.