Comparison of Clinical Features and Visual Outcome between Sympathetic Ophthalmia and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease in Chinese Patients.

PURPOSE: To characterize the clinical features of sympathetic ophthalmia (SO) and compare SO and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease in Chinese patients.

DESIGN: Retrospective case series.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 131 consecutive SO and 500 VKH disease patients randomly selected from among those referred to our uveitis center from April 2008 through June 2018.

METHODS: History, extraocular and ocular findings, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), auxiliary examination findings, complications, and therapeutic effects were analyzed retrospectively in SO and VKH disease patients.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Visual outcome, extraocular and ocular findings, and therapeutic effects.

RESULTS: Sympathetic ophthalmia manifested as posterior uveitis (68.8%) within 2 weeks and equal involvement of anterior and posterior segment (44.4%), respectively, was observed between 2 weeks and 2 months after disease onset. Two months after disease onset, SO patients showed sunset glow fundus (51.2%) and granulomatous anterior uveitis (27.3%). Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease patients mainly showed posterior uveitis (100%), anterior segment involvement (92.4%) associated with posterior uveitis (84.9%), and granulomatous anterior uveitis (97.4%) accompanying sunset glow fundus (91.5%) in the 3 periods mentioned above. The frequencies of extraocular manifestations were lower in SO patients (24.4%) as compared with VKH disease patients (84.8%; P < 0.001). Best-corrected visual acuity of SO patients improved from 0.68±0.86 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) to 0.47±0.78 logMAR (P = 0.01), and BCVA of VKH disease patients improved from 0.67±0.79 logMAR to 0.24±0.53 logMAR (P < 0.001) at 12 months of follow-up. A worse BCVA was noted in SO patients compared with VKH disease patients after treatment (P = 0.003). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the risk of loss of useful vision in SO patients was significantly higher than that of VKH disease patients (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Chinese SO and VKH disease patients have a different evolutionary process. The frequency of extraocular manifestations in SO patients is much lower as compared with VKH disease patients. Visual outcome is worse in SO as compared with VKH disease.