Fluorescein iris angiography and anterior segment fluorophotometry in patients with Behçet's disease

Fluorescein iris angiography and anterior segment fluorophotometry were performed in 63 eyes of 34 patients with Behçet's disease during its remission stage. Thirty normal eyes were studied as the control. A variety of leakage patterns comprising posterior chamber leakage and paravascular leakage were detected in 32 eyes with Behçet's disease by means of fluorescein iris angiography, while no leakage was detected in the control eyes. These leakage patterns were frequently seen in the posterior type uveitis group of Behçet's patients, but were scarce in the anterior type uveitis group. By anterior segment fluorophotometry, the levels of fluorescein concentration in the anterior chamber were significantly higher in the posterior type uveitis eyes of Behçet's patients than those in either the anterior type uveitis eyes or the controls (P less than 0.05-P less than 0.01). The results indicated that the damage to the vascular system still existed in the remission stage of the disease, and that this abnormality occurred more markedly in the posterior type group than in the anterior type group of Behçet's disease eyes.