Treatment of Uveitis Associated with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Pediatric Rheumatology (S Ozen, Section Editor)
First Online:
Part of the following topical collections:
  1. Topical Collection on Pediatric Rheumatology

Abstract

Chronic anterior uveitis affects 10–30 % of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and is still a cause of blindness in childhood. In most patients it is asymptomatic, bilateral, and recurrent, so careful screening and early diagnosis are important to obtain the best long-term prognosis. The treatment of chronic uveitis associated with JIA is challenging. Initial treatment is based on topical steroids and mydriatic drops. Methotrexate is the most common first-line immunomodulatory drug used. For refractory patients, biologicals, mainly the anti-tumor-necrosis-factor (TNF) drugs adalimumab and infliximab, have been revealed to be effective and have changed the outcome for these patients. Collaboration between pediatric rheumatologists and ophthalmologists is important for the successful diagnosis and treatment of patients with uveitis associated with JIA.

Keywords

Uveitis Juvenile idiopathic arthritis Corticosteroids Methotrexate Biologicals Adalimumab Infliximab Abatacept 
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Notes

Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

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Conflict of Interest

Rosa Bou declares that she has received speakers’ bureau fees from Novartis and Abbvie, and travel and expense payments from Abbvie and Pfizer. Estíbaliz Iglesias declares that she has no conflict of interest. Jordi Antón declares that his institution has received a PI grant from Pfizer and that he has received speakers’ bureau fees from Pfizer, Roche, and GEBRO, and speakers’ bureau fees and travel and expense payments from Abbvie.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors

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© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Pediatric Rheumatology Unit. Hospital Sant Joan de DéuUniversitat de BarcelonaEspluguesSpain

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