Psoriatic arthritis and hypopyon-iridocyclitis. Possible mechanism of the association of psoriasis and anterior uveitis

Abstract

Background: We present a 32-year-old Japanese man with psoriatic arthritis who developed recurrent episodes of hypopyon-iridocyclitis associated with exacerbations of the arthropathy.

Objective: To evaluate the mechanism of the association between psoriasis and uveitis, we analyzed the rheological characteristics of the patient's peripheral blood neutrophils during attacks and during remissions.

Methods: The rheological activity of neutrophils was determined by the micropore filtration method. It was expressed as micropore filtration time when a neutrophil-erythrocyte suspension passes through a micropore filter (pore size 5 microns).

Results: The micropore filtration time in this patient was longer than that of healthy control subjects (p < 0.01) and of psoriatic patients without uveitis (p < 0.05); it was also longer during the appearance of the eye disorder with the exacerbation of psoriatic arthritis than during remissions.

Conclusions: Activated neutrophils in the peripheral blood of our patient were probably responsible for the attacks of hypopyon-iridocyclitis as well as the exacerbation of psoriatic skin lesions and/or arthritis.