Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

Curr Opin Ophthalmol. 2000 Dec;11(6):437-42. doi: 10.1097/00055735-200012000-00009.

Abstract

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease affects primarily persons who are Asian, Latino, Native American, or Asian Indian. Women appear to be affected more commonly than men, and VKH disease may occur at all ages, including childhood. Experimental data continue to support an autoimmune etiology for VKH disease, directed most probably against an antigenic component of the melanocyte, possibly tyrosinase or a tyrosinase-related protein. The clinical diagnosis of VKH disease continues to be based on physical findings. Newer imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging, indocyanine green angiography, and digital image analysis have not added appreciably to our understanding of the condition. First-line therapy consists of high-dose corticosteroids, with use of corticosteroid-sparing agents for resistant or recalcitrant disease. Complications are the main cause of reversible and irreversible vision loss, with subretinal fibrosis and choroidal neovascular membranes having particularly poor prognoses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Autoimmunity / immunology
  • Blindness / diagnosis
  • Blindness / etiology
  • Choroidal Neovascularization / complications
  • Choroidal Neovascularization / diagnosis
  • Fluorescein Angiography
  • Fundus Oculi
  • Glucocorticoids / therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Melanocytes / enzymology
  • Melanocytes / immunology
  • Membrane Glycoproteins*
  • Monophenol Monooxygenase / immunology
  • Oxidoreductases / immunology
  • Prognosis
  • Proteins / immunology
  • Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome* / complications
  • Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome* / diagnosis
  • Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome* / drug therapy
  • Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome* / immunology

Substances

  • Glucocorticoids
  • Membrane Glycoproteins
  • Proteins
  • Oxidoreductases
  • TYRP1 protein, human
  • tyrosinase-related protein-1
  • Monophenol Monooxygenase