[Conservative therapy of isolated retinal vasculitis]

Isolated retinal vasculitis (IRV) is a form of retinal vasculitis without other types of eye inflammation or systemic vasculitis. Treatment of IRV is a difficult problem. We report the results of treatment of 43 IRV patients (25 men and 18 women, mean age 32.5 +/- 5.5 years with a range of 22-42 years). The main therapy for IRV were corticosteroids. They were used by pulse therapy, orally and locally (periocular injections). Improvement of visual acuity was more pronounced in patients treated by pulse therapy (0.35 +/- 0.15) than in those treated orally (0.16 +/- 0.06, p = 0.0132) and parabulbarly (0.06 +/- 0.12, p = 0.0009). Resorption of retinal perivascular exudate was sooner achieved by steroid pulse therapy than by oral treatment (8.1 +/- 2.2 days vs. 17.9 +/- 2.8 days, p < 0.0000) or periocular injection of steroids (30.9 +/- 7.1 days, p < 0.0000). Prednisolone (10-20 mg) was prescribed for 4-12 months in order to prevent IRV recurrences. Steroid-resistant patients were treated with cyclosporin A (5 mg/kg). The treatment was supplemented by fibrinolytics, angioprotectors, and antioxidants.