Clinical course of HTLV-I-associated uveitis.

PURPOSE: To define the long-term clinical course and visual outcome of human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated uveitis (HAU).

METHODS

We reviewed the clinical data on 96 eyes of 70 patients, 26 men and 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 (range, 12-276 months).

RESULTS

The mean age of onset was 42.8 years (range, 7-78 years of age), with 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 HAU. A single episode of mild to moderate acute uveal inflammation with resolution in a few weeks or more occurred in 44 (62.9%) patients, and multiple episodes in 26 (37.1%), with a mean interval of 16 months (range, 1-250 months), which affected the same eye, fellow eye, or both. The majority of patients had favorable visual outcome at the last examination, whereas only a few patients suffered poor vision resulting from steroid cataract and retinochoroidal degeneration.

CONCLUSIONS

The clinical course of HAU is virtually benign and its visual outcome is favorable, although its recurrence is common. The uveitis is usually isolated and affects a portion of otherwise unremarkable HTLV-I carriers, but it may sometimes be manifest as a symptom of syndromic diseases such as HTLV-I-associated myelopathy or hyperthyroidism. This study describes for the first time cases of HAU that occurred many years before manifestation of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy.