Features of retinal arterial macroaneurysms in patients with uveitis

To determine the frequency and clinical characteristics of retinal arterial macroaneurysms in patients with uveitis.

A retrospective review of the clinical, photographic, and angiographic records of 1007 patients with uveitis, examined at the Osaka University Hospital uveitis clinic between January 1995 and April 2002, was performed. All of the records were examined to determine whether macroaneurysms were present, and when present, to determine the laterality, type, location, clinical course, and the presence of associated systemic and ocular diseases.

Of the 1007 patients with uveitis, only 14 (1.4%) had macroaneurysms. 12 of these 14 patients had peripheral multifocal chorioretinitis (PMC), and five of these 12 were diagnosed with sarcoidosis and the other seven without sarcoidosis. There was only one case with sarcoidosis without PMC, and the remaining case was uveitis of unknown origin. There were 18 macroaneurysms in all cases and 17 (94.4%) were the exudative type, and the remaining one was the haemorrhagic type. Two patients had been treated for systemic hypertension but the others had no signs of systemic hypertension or cardiovascular disease.

Macroaneurysms are not characteristically found in patients with uveitis, but the majority are found in patients with PMC. The majority of the macroaneurysms were the exudative type, and the conclusion is that patients with PMC should be carefully examined for exudative macroaneurysms.