[Epidemiology of ocular involvement in Adamantiades-Behçets disease]

[Differential diagnosis of anterior uveitis]

Anterior uveitis is a potentially sight-threatening disease, which affects either one or both eyes. Although the etiology is not fully understood, important associations with systemic diseases and infections have been established. A thorough clinical investigation with the slit lamp may reveal important findings leading to diagnosis and therapy. Additional diagnostic procedures are usually required only with the occurrence of relapses. Most anterior uveitis cases with an underlying autoimmune etiology respond very well to topical steroids and mydriasis while systemic treatment is rarely needed. In contrast, infectious causes typically require systemic medication. Anterior uveitis has a good prognosis if treated adequately despite some complications like cataract, macular edema, or increase of intraocular pressure, which cannot be prevented in all cases.

[Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system in ophthalmology]

Various inflammatory and non-inflammatory eye diseases are associated with specific HLA isotypes. Therefore, HLA isotyping can be a useful diagnostic tool for these diseases and has already been shown to reduce the rejection rate of corneal allografts. Unfortunately, the volume of published data and the varying quality of these publications complicate obtaining good overview in this field. This review briefly summarizes the genetic structure of the HLA system and elucidates differences between HLA classes I and II in the context of antigen presentation. Possible mechanisms of HLA associations in the field of ophthalmology are discussed, and finally different tools (e.g. genome wide association studies) for assessing associations of HLA isotypes with different ocular diseases are examined.