Epidemiological, Clinical, and Therapeutic Profile of Uveitis in Multiple Sclerosis: A Multicenter Study

Abstract

Introduction: Uveitis may occur during approximately 1-3% of MS patients, corresponding to 10 times higher than in the general population. The development of uveitis is not currently considered as an inflammatory relapse of MS. There are no clinical guidelines for treating. MS with concomitant uveitis requiring systemic treatment.

Purposes: To analyze clinical and therapeutic characteristics of uveitis in patients with MS and the impact of MS treatment on the progression of uveitis.

Materials & methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational, multicenter study in France about 54 patients.

Results: The form of MS most frequently associated with uveitis in our study was the relapsing-remitting form (85%). The mean time of onset of uveitis was 15 months before the diagnosis of MS. The most frequent form of uveitis was bilateral panuveitis (43%), non-granulomatous (61%), synechial (52%) and non-hypertonic (93%) with progressive onset (65%) and chronic course (66%).

Conclusion: MS-associated uveitis occurs most frequently before the diagnosis of relapsing-remitting MS in the form of panuveitis or intermediate uveitis, which is mildly inflammatory and whose main complications are macular edema, cataract and venous vasculitis. Despite their chronicity, these uveitis cases have a good visual prognosis and teriflunomide appears to have a positive effect on progression.

Keywords: Macular edema; multiple-sclerosis; uveitis; vasculitis.