Management of uveitis in pediatric patients: special considerations.

Uveitis refers to inflammation involving the uvea or middle coat of the eye. This condition occurs uncommonly, particularly in persons aged <or=16 years. However, pediatric uveitis deserves special consideration for reasons that include the relatively poor prognosis, unique systemic associations, and various age-related treatment considerations. Accurate diagnosis requires history from both patient and parents, a complete ophthalmic examination that may require general anesthesia, and carefully selected investigations. Infections and masquerade syndromes, such as leukemia and retinoblastoma, must be excluded before treatment is commenced with immunosuppressive agents. Noninfectious anterior uveitis generally responds to topical corticosteroid and mydriatic therapy. Although used frequently in adults with posterior uveitis, periocular corticosteroid injections may require a general anesthetic, and systemic corticosteroids may cause serious adverse effects, including growth retardation, in pediatric patients. Consequently, in children, one or more corticosteroid-sparing immunosuppressive drugs are usually employed for vision-threatening noninfectious posterior eye inflammation. Methotrexate is the most commonly used systemic immunosuppressive agent for pediatric uveitis. It is effective in small retrospective clinical series, generally well tolerated, easy to administer, and inexpensive. Cyclosporin has also been used successfully in children with uveitis, being associated with a low risk of renal toxicity when used at standard doses. Although prescribed for severe ocular inflammation in adults, alkylating agents are generally contraindicated in children owing to risks including secondary malignancy, sterility and bone marrow suppression. Drugs that inhibit tumor necrosis factor-alpha have recently been used successfully to treat children with uveitis; however, in some patients there may be a risk of potentiating the ocular inflammation. Randomized clinical trials would provide valuable information about the relative efficacy of the various available treatment options.