Herpetic Anterior Uveitis Multicentre Longitudinal Study (The UVHER Project). Baseline Characteristics

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Virology
• Immunology

Background:

• Herpetic anterior uveitis (AU) is a significant cause of vision impairment.
• Optic nerve damage is a potential complication of AU.
• Understanding the risk factors and clinical presentations is crucial for patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prospectively evaluate the risk of optic nerve damage in patients with herpetic AU over two years.
• To describe the baseline characteristics of patients enrolled in the UVHER cohort.
• To compare clinical manifestations and ocular findings between different herpetic viruses causing AU.

Main Methods:

• A multicentre, prospective study design.
• Inclusion of patients with confirmed herpetic AU via positive PCR.
• Collection of clinical data, optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters, and visual field (VF) abnormalities.

Main Results:

• 27 patients were included: 18 Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)-AU, 1 Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV)-AU, and 8 Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-AU.
• HSV-AU patients presented with severe inflammation, iris atrophy, and corneal involvement.
• CMV-AU patients exhibited less inflammation, medium-to-large keratic precipitates, thinner retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell layer (GCL) on OCT, and optic nerve damage at baseline.

Conclusions:

• The UVHER cohort demonstrated typical clinical features of herpetic AU.
• Optic nerve damage was evident at baseline in CMV-AU patients.
• HSV-AU patients experienced more severe inflammatory responses compared to CMV-AU patients.