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The clinical presentation and treatment outcomes of ocular tuberculosis: a 5-year experience in an endemic area

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Abstract

Purpose

To report the clinical presentations of ocular tuberculosis infection (OTB) and the treatment regimen and outcome in an endemic area.

Methods

This is a retrospective case series of patients with presumed OTB treated in a tertiary teaching hospital in Hong Kong in 2014–2019.

Results

Among the nineteen patients recruited, the most common clinical presentation of OTB was retinal vasculitis (42.1%), followed by scleritis, intermediate uveitis, and choroidal tuberculoma (15.8% respectively). 94.7% and 94.4% of the subjects were treated with ATT and steroid, respectively, and 31.6% were put on systemic immunosuppressant prior to the initiation of ATT. Apart from those suffering from intermediate uveitis, most demonstrated good clinical response within 8 weeks of ATT initiation.

Conclusion

Ocular involvement of TB has been increasingly recognized, especially in endemic regions like Hong Kong. High index of suspicion is recommended for OTB in typical clinical phenotypes or recurrent/resistant ocular inflammation unresponsive to conventional therapy. TB retinal vasculitis was the most common presentation of OTB in this study and OTB generally requires treatment with either regional or systemic steroid together with ATT.

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This research did not receive any funding and sponsorships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Prince of Wales Hospital and Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Jolly Tsui, Mary Ho, Lijia Chen, Lawrence Iu, Marten Brelen & Alvin L. Young

  2. Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Grace Lui & Timothy Li

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  1. Jolly Tsui
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All authors listed here are qualified for authorships. This is to certify all the authors gained credit by fulfilling substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition and analysis of data; drafting and revising the article and approval of the version to be published.

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Correspondence to Alvin L. Young.

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This is a retrospective study that does not contain medical information or clinical photos of identifiable living individuals.

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Tsui, J., Ho, M., Lui, G. et al. The clinical presentation and treatment outcomes of ocular tuberculosis: a 5-year experience in an endemic area. Int Ophthalmol 41, 3199–3209 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01886-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01886-y

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