Abstract
Purpose :
To analyze the diagnostic and economic benefits of performing laboratory tests on intraocular fluids during the differential diagnosis of infectious versus non-infectious uveitis.
Methods :
Forty-three ocular samples from 37 patients with a presumptive diagnosis of infectious uveitis were included. The diagnostic benefit of the sample analysis was classified into three levels of utility: level I (confirmed the diagnosis and oriented the treatment), level II (did not confirm the diagnosis but oriented the treatment) and level III (Neither confirm the diagnosis nor oriented the treatment). The economic benefit was considered as the saving related to achieving an etiological diagnosis with potentially curative treatment and consequent reduce of the spending in chronic treatment.
Results :
Forty-two precent of the samples resulted in a level I of utility, 41.86% in a level II and 16.28% in a level III of utility. The tests with the highest diagnostic yield were the Goldmann-Witmer coefficient for toxoplasmosis and rubella. The economic saving of the tests with a level I of utility was between € 2294.5 and € 18405.68 per patient per year. The greatest benefits were found in cases of posterior uveitis and panuveitis.
Conclusions :
The analysis of ocular samples enables the etiological diagnosis of infectious uveitis in a substantial percentage of cases, thus avoiding the economic costs of chronic inflammation and complications.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.