A clinicopathological study on IgG4-related ophthalmic disease

To investigate clinicopathological features of immunoglobulin G4-related ophthalmic disease (IgG4-ROD), and analyze the recurrence rates following systemic corticosteroid administration.

We retrospectively searched clinical features, laboratory and histological findings based on the medical records of 21 patients with IgG4-ROD. All the patients examined in this study underwent surgical resection in the ocular adnexal lesions and underwent histological evaluation. This study further investigated clinical and histopathological features of 15 patients who received systemic corticosteroid after the resection.

The mean age of the patients consisting of 7 males (33%) and 14 females (67%) was 61y. Fourteen patients were diagnosed as definitive, and 2 and 5 patients were probable and possible IgG4-ROD, respectively. Eyelid swelling was an initial symptom in 11 patients (52%) who did not show systemic involvements at a diagnosis. Fifteen patients received systemic corticosteroid administration, and all showed remission of inflammation. Among them, 10 patients did not recur, whereas 5 patients (33%) recurred during tapering. There were no significant difference between patients with or without recurrence in clinicopathological features.

In this study, female patients are more predominant in IgG4-ROD. While inflammation recurs in one-third of patients, this study do not identify factors associated with recurrence after systemic corticosteroid administration.