Anoter reason to ck eyes!!! Uveitis

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

Hi All,

As some of you may know Kaycee has been battling a fairly severe corneal 
abrasion.  I am happy to report today that she has been cleared deemed 
healed by the Ophthalmologist.  However today I asked Dr. Paul Scherlie 
about a disorder I had been reading and hearing a bit about recently called 
Uveitis.  There are many kinds of this disease but unfortunately today I 
was made aware that one form of Uveitis is without a doubt a heritable 
issue affecting only one breed, yes ours, the Golden Retriever.  Paul 
talked to me a bit about this disease and gave me an article on it.   This 
is my re type of the Abstract, please excuse typo's many of these words are 
sort of out there for me. :-)

Objective:  To Document the presenting ocular signs and the clinical course 
of Golden Retrievers with a progressive Anterior uveitis, often associated 
with the histologic presence of iridociliary cysts.

Animals studied: 75 Golden Retrievers [142 affected eyes] referred to a 
private practice referral ophthalmology clinic between 1994 and 1999.

Procedures:  Complete ophthalmic evaluation with slit-lamp biomicroscopy, 
indirect ophthalmoscop, applanation tonometry, and gonioscopy.  Hematology, 
serum biochemiccal evaluations, and serologic titers for endemic infectious 
agents were also used in selected cases.

Results:  The age range of affected dogs was 4.5-14.5 years, with a mean 
age of 8.6 = or - 2.1 years.  The majority of the dogs [n=66] were affected 
in both eyes at first presentation.  The sex distribution included 4 intact 
males, 32 neutered males, and 39 spayed females.   Hematology, serum 
biochemical evaluations, and serologic titers for endemic infectious agents 
failed to demonstrate any underlaying disorder.  The ophthalmic hallmark of 
this syndrome was the appearance of pigment on the anterior lens capsule, 
often in a radial orientation.  This capsular pigment was seen both with 
and without associated uveal cysts.  Although single to multiple 
iridociliary cysts were noted clinical in only 13.3% of these cases, cysts 
were common on histopathology of advanced glaucomatous, blind eyes.  Fibrin 
was observed in the anterior chamber of 37% of the cases, and often was a 
precursor for glaucoma. Cataract formation [37%] and glaucoma [46%] were 
frequent sequelae to the uveitis.  Posterior synechiae formation occurred 
in 50% of the cases.  Histopathologic analysis of four enucleated eyes and 
the eviscerated specimens from 14 glaucomatous eyes demonstrated 
thin-walled iridociliary epithelial cysts in 3/4 and 12/14 cases, 
respectively.   Microscopically, little to no uveal inflammatory 
infiltration was commonly noted.

Conclusion:  The overall prognosis for this progressive uveitis in Golden 
Retrievers is guarded with 46% of the eyes becoming blind due to 
glaucoma.  Iridociliary cysts in Golden Retrievers may lead to the 
development of glaucoma in this breed.  The publication this came from is: 
Veterinary Ophthalmology 2000.

Ok so what does all this mean?  Lots of big words many of them I do not 
understand so basically Paul told me that red eyes inflamed eyes are 
suspect of uveitis and that most general practitioners would miss diagnose 
this condition simply because it is not common but it's in our breed and at 
this point in time only our breed.  This disease is very painful and 
extreamly expensive to treat and success rates of reversal if left 
undiagnosed, not caught early, very early, are very low.  He also said just 
this year in the PNW he has seen 12 cases of uveitis and he is concerned 
for our breed.  He did also tell me he has been contacted by the GRCA for 
information on this and what would be involved in putting together a DNA 
screening.  I am going to assume that the GRCA is perusing this but will as 
well contact some individuals I know who from the human end of things might 
be more able to help us develop a DNA test.  Until then it's going to be of 
the upmost importance that each of us keeps a close check on the eyes of 
our dogs.  Breeding dogs or not.

What is the risk to your Brier dogs?  I do not know.  I have never had a 
reported case of uveitis.  But please make sure you heed this information 
and by all means if you suspect an issue with your dog please convey this 
information to your vet and seek appropriate medical attention ASAP and 
please also contact me.  I will have available copies of the entire article 
for those interested at the eye clinic on September 30.

Hope to see many of you next Sunday!

Gina