Uveitis scoring system

Abstract

Advances in our understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in uveitis and uveoretinitis led to the introduction of various new therapeutic modalities for these diseases (1). The results of studies on the effectiveness of these treatments in endogenous uveitis were, however, equivocal and disappointing (2,3). New and more potent treatment alternatives were therefore sought (4, 5, 6). However, it was soon realized that assessment of drug efficacy based solely on visual acuity is insufficient and does not properly reflect the entire spectrum of disease manifestations. For this reason, the need for a comprehensive and reproducible standard scoring system was raised during the analysis of a masked study evaluating the effectiveness of cyclosporin A (CsA) versus conventional therapy in Behcet’s disease (7). This was followed by the formation of a study group whose task was to prepare a universal grading system that would reflect both intraocular inflammatory activity and visual acuity and could be used as a standard means of classification throughout the world.