Uveitis and T cell lymphoma: a rare but notable relationship

Uveitis is an autoimmune disease of the eye that refers to a number of intraocular inflammatory conditions. We identified three rare cases of T cell lymphoma diagnosed following an initial presentation of uveitis. This study summarized the clinical features of these rare cases and evaluated the association between uveitis and lymphoma. We analyzed the etiology of uveitis diagnosed in the Department of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at our hospital. Five patients were diagnosed with uveitis and lymphoma. We present case reports of three patients who were diagnosed with T cell lymphoma following an initial presentation of uveitis. From January 1985 to June 2013, there were 80 cases of uveitis and 1,900 cases of lymphoma in the Department of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at our hospital. We found five patients that were diagnosed with uveitis and lymphoma; of these, three had a definite pathologic diagnosis of T cell lymphoma. The odds ratio (OR) was 6.08 (95 % confidence interval [CI] of 1.93-14.94, P = 0.002) for the five patients with uveitis and lymphoma, suggesting a significant association. The OR was 3.67 (95 % CI of 1.16-11.65, P = 0.053) for the three patients with uveitis and T cell lymphoma. Uveitis may be a rare presentation of malignant disease, such as lymphoma. Ophthalmologists and general practitioners should be familiar with the differential diagnosis of uveitis.