Non-invasive methods to evaluate the blood-aqueous barrier function

Abstract

We used vitreous fluorophotometry to supplement standard clinical techniques and fluorescein angiography to study 23 eyes in 12 patients with pars planitis. All eyes leaked abnormal amounts of fluorescein into the vitreous. The leakage was generalized in the posterior segment of the eye. In milder cases, leakage was greater posteriorly; more severe cases showed preferential leakage from the equatorial and midperipheral regions.There was no predilection for leakage in the inferior fundus. The eyes in which greater leakage occurred inferiorly tended to be those with greater overall leakage; all but one involved early cyclitic membrane formation or heavy neovascularization of the pars plana membrane.The amount of cystoid macular edema demonstrated by fluorescein angiography correlated well with vitreous fluorophotometric values, as did vitreous haze, the extent and density of the inferior membrane, and visual acuity.