Sympathetic Ophthalmia - An Overview

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Sympathetic ophthalmia (SO) is rare, bilateral granulomatous panuveitis that typically occurs following penetrating or perforating ocular trauma or surgery. This review aims to provide an update on the etiopathogenesis, clinical presentations, diagnosis and treatment of SO.

Methods

Reports cited in MEDLINE database, that analyzed SO in at least 5 patients, published prior to December 1st, 2021 were included.

Results

Initially, SO was associated with penetrating ocular trauma, however, various studies reported an increased incidence of SO after surgical procedures including vitreoretinal surgeries. Multimodal imaging including fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography have added further insights into the understanding of SO. While pulse dose corticosteroids & immunosuppressive drugs are still the treatment of choice, TNF-α blockers & other biologic drugs represent new promising agents.

Conclusion

There is a growing pool of evidence in understanding the pathogenesis of SO. Novel treatment options have provided better prognosis for this potentially blinding condition.

KEYWORDS:

• Immunosuppression
• ocular trauma
• panuveitis
• sympathetic ophthalmia
• vitreoretinal surgery

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.