[Clinical analyses of sarcoidosis with ocular involvement]

To explore the clinical characteristics and systemic manifestations of sarcoidosis with ocular involvement.

The clinical data of 19 cases of sarcoidosis with ocular involvement confirmed by pathology at Beijing Tongren Hospital from March 2004 to February 2014 were analyzed retrospectively. The ocular manifestations, chest imaging findings, laboratory tests and pathological diagnosis were reviewed. And the clinical features of sarcoidosis with ocular involvement were summarized.

Among them, there were 6 males and 13 females with an average age of (47 ± 14) (16-76) years. The ocular symptoms were the initial presenting manifestations of sarcoidosis in 12 cases while 2 cases presented ocular symptoms during the course of disease. And aother 5 cases without ocular symptoms were confirmed to have ocular involvement by eye examination. The main manifestations of ocular sarcoidosis were uveitis (n = 16), chorioretinitis (n = 3), retinal vasculitis (n = 2), optic neuritis (n = 1) and orbital mass (n = 3). The key feature of sarcoidosis was bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy (BHL) (14/16) on chest film. The diagnosis in 17 cases was confirmed by biopsy of extra-ocular organs. The positive diagnostic rate of bronchial biopsy was 8/9.

Ocular involvement in sarcoidosis is relatively common due to a variety of ocular manifestations and serious vision impairment in some patients. Ophthalmologic examination is essential in the clinical management of sarcoidosis. Chest imaging and bronchial biopsy are important for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis with initial ocular manifestations.