Inflammatory eye disease

Abstract

The eye is frequently the target of immune-mediated inflammation, either as the sole organ involved or as part of a multiorgan system disease. Systemic inflammatory disorders tend to involve the eye in characteristic manners. As examples, disorders associated with HLA-B27 often cause a highly symptomatic anterior uveitis; Behcet's disease can cause a subclinical but ultimately vision-threatening posterior uveitis; and Wegener's granulomatosis is associated with scleritis, peripheral ulcerative keratitis, and orbital pseudotumor. The diagnosis of systemic disease can therefore be inferred from the specific types of ocular involvement. The uveal tract is divided into anterior, intermediate, and posterior segments. "Anterior uveitis" and "iritis" are synonyms. © 2010 Springer-Verlag London.