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Eales’ Disease

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Albert and Jakobiec's Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology

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Abstract

Eales’ disease is an idiopathic primary vasculitis that involves the peripheral retinal veins. It usually affects young adults and results in recurrent vitreous hemorrhage. The condition has three distinct and often overlapping clinical stages, the inflammatory stage that principally manifests as perivascular sheathing, the neovascular stage that results in the formation of retinal new vessels and the vitreous hemorrhage stage due to bleeding from the new vessels. Though first described in the mid nineteenth century, the precise etiology of the disease is still unknown. Tuberculosis is often implicated directly or indirectly without undisputable histological or biochemical evidence. Many retinal vascular diseases resemble Eales’ retinopathy, and it is a diagnosis of exclusion. With the availability of specific tests for many conditions that cause vasculitis, one could now ascribe a specific etiology to many cases hitherto labelled as Eales’ disease. It is possible that the etiology of a large proportion of retinal vasculitis could be identified in future. An animal model of primary vasculitis could provide insight into the underlying pathology and help to refine treatment strategy and/or design methods to minimize recurrences and consequent retinal damage. Meanwhile, patients with Eales’ disease would continue to be treated with oral corticosteroid in the inflammatory stage, with retinal laser in the proliferative stage and with vitreoretinal surgery in the vitreous hemorrhage stage. The treatment outcomes are usually good.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Srimati Kannuri Shantamma Center for Vitreoretinal diseases, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India

    Taraprasad Das & Mudit Tyagi

  2. Uveitis and Ocular Pathology Department, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India

    Jyotirmay Biswas

Authors
  1. Taraprasad Das
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  2. Jyotirmay Biswas
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  3. Mudit Tyagi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Taraprasad Das .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Oregon Health & Science University Department of Ophthalmology, Portland, OR, USA

    Daniel Albert

  2. Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, USA

    Joan Miller

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Ophthalmology, Chicago, IL, USA

    Dimitri Azar

  4. Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Lucy H. Young

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Retina Service, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ivana Kim Prof

  2. Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, USA

    Yoshihiro Yonekawa

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Das, T., Biswas, J., Tyagi, M. (2021). Eales’ Disease. In: Albert, D., Miller, J., Azar, D., Young, L.H. (eds) Albert and Jakobiec's Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90495-5_33-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90495-5_33-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90495-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90495-5

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