Diagnostic Workup of Retinal Vasculitis: An Algorithmic Approach

Retinal vasculitis has heterogeneous etiologies encompassing infections, autoimmune diseases, masquerades, and idiopathic causes. The heterogeneity in the underlying clinical features and etiologies of retinal vasculitis makes its diagnosis challenging for clinicians, the workup thus becomes quite extensive, and many a times several unwarranted investigations are done to look for a possible etiology.

Timely and accurate diagnosis is crucial for effective management and vision preservation. The algorithmic approach needs understanding of the phenotype, clinical features, as well as imaging biomarkers so that only customized investigations are done in order to make the timely diagnosis and initiate specific therapy wherever required.

In this review article, we shall present an algorithmic approach that combines clinical assessment, ophthalmic imaging, laboratory investigations, and targeted ancillary tests.