Uveitic Macular Edema: Assessing Diagnostic Patterns and Treatment Options That Can Keep This Complication Out of Sight

Inflammation of the uvea"or uveitis"is conducive to about 10% of blindness in people in the United States. Approximately 80% of uveitis is noninfectious in etiology, imposing a substantial socioeconomic impact to affected patients and the US health care system every year. A prominent complication is uveitic macular edema (UME), which affects up to 30% of all patients regardless of etiology and is the leading cause of blindness in patients with uveitis. Establishing the correct diagnosis of UME is critical. Several advanced imaging technologies are available to assist in ruling out other causes of edema and monitoring the progression of inflammation and neovascularization.

Historically, management of patients with UME has been challenging due to the lack of treatment guidance and no FDA-approved therapies. Corticosteroids are often the first line of treatment for uveitis and UME, while several steroid agents with differing properties and routes of administration are in use. Moreover, the first agent to gain FDA approval for UME is now available.

In this important educational program on UME, expert faculty discuss the multifactorial pathogenesis of this disease, best practices for the use of imaging technologies in resolving the differential diagnosis of UME, and the clinical data supporting the use of conventional and recently available corticosteroid therapies.