[A case of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease associated with aortitis syndrome]

This in a case report of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease associated with aortitis syndrome in a 44-year-old female. She was diagnosed as having aortitis syndrome twenty years ago, and has been treated with systemic corticosteroids. At the first ophthalmic examination, her visual acuity was 0.2 (n. c.) in the right eye and 0.4(0.5) in the left eye. Inflammatory cells in the anterior chamber of the left eye and bilateral serous retinal detachment were observed. Fluorescein angiography revealed subretinal pooling of fluorescein. In the systemic examination, pleocytosis of the cerebrospinal fluid and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types DR2 and DR4 were also found. We diagnosed the condition as Harada's disease from these findings, and then applied systemic administration of corticosteroids. After the treatment, the bilateral serous retinal detachment immediately disappeared, and the visual acuity improved to (1.0). Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease associated with aortitis syndrome is very rare, because it has never been reported previously. It is possible that there is some unknown common mechanism in these two diseases, but it is more probable that this case was simply coincidental.