Retinopathy in systemic lupus erythematosus: Relationship to disease activity

✍ Scribed by Alice V. Klinkhoff; Craig W. Beattie; Andrew Chalmers

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 453 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780290914

✦ Synopsis

Forty-three patients taking chloroquine for systemic lupus erythematosus were followed by one ophthalmologist over a 5-year period. Visual field testing, color vision testing, and fluorescein angiography were performed. Retinopathy was detected in 7 patients (16%1, none of whom had hypertension or diabetes melitus. Retinal abnormalities included cotton-wool spots in 4 patients, microaneurysms in 3, and vascular tortuosity in 4. In 4 patients, these abnormalities were associated with retinal dysfunction, measured in terms of abnormal hue discrimination. In 6 of the 7 patients, the finding of retinopathy coincided with a flare of lupus activity. In 5 patients, retinopathy improved when the disease was controlled.

Retinopathy is a well-known complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Before the advent of steroids, retinopathy was reported in 50% of SLE cases (1,2), However, the incidence of retinopathy in a predominantly outpatient population with milder disease has been reported to be relatively small (3). Between 1978 and 1983, 43 SLE patients treated with chloroquine were referred to one ophthalmologist. This has permitted us to follow the course of SLE retinopathy in a selected population. It became our