Serpiginous choroiditis

Serpiginous choroiditis, also known as geographic or helicoid choroidopathy, is an uncommon chronic progressive inflammatory disease affecting adult men and women equally in the second to seventh decades of life.^[1]

Clinical

In this condition the posterior uveitis shows a geographic pattern. The inflammation begins in the juxtapapillary choroid and intermittently spreads centrifugally. The overlying retinal pigment epithelium and the outer retina are involved in the inflammatory process.

A closely related condition is multifocal serpiginoid choroiditis. This is caused by tuberculosis.^[2]

The distinction between these two conditions is important as the latter responds to anti tuberculosis treatment while the former does not.

References

1. American academy of Ophthalmology (2012). Basic&Clinical Science Course: Intraocular inflammation and uveitis (2011-2012 last major rev. 2010-2012. ed.). American Academy of Ophthalmology. ISBN 978-1615251162.
2. Bansal R, Sharma K, Gupta A, Sharma A, Singh MP, Gupta V, Mulkutkar S, Dogra M, Dogra MR, Kamal S, Sharma SP, Fiorella PD (2015) Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome in vitreous fluid of eyes with multifocal serpiginoid choroiditis. Ophthalmology pii: S0161-6420(14)01115-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2014.11.021