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A Non-Infectious Uveitis Multidisciplinary Clinic in a Tertiary Referral Center: Clinical Impact and Added Value

2021; Dove Medical Press; Volume: Volume 14; Linguagem: Inglês

10.2147/jmdh.s292981

1178-2390

Inês Leal, Vasco C. Romão, Sofia Mano, Nikita Khmelinskii, Raquel Campanilho‐Marques, Cristina Ponte, Carla Macieira, Filipa Oliveira‐Ramos, Elsa Vieira‐Sousa, Vasco Miranda, Walter Martins Rodrigues, Luís Abegão Pinto, Carlos Marques‐Neves, João Eurico Fonseca,

Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disorders

Abstract: Non-infectious uveitis (NIU) is a group of sight-threatening diseases that generates significant burden for the healthcare systems due to its adverse outcomes, irreversible structural complications in the eye with loss of visual function, limited clinical expertise and low-grade evidence for best practice. The usefulness of multidisciplinary care, specifically close collaboration between Rheumatologists and Ophthalmologists in NIU, has been emphasized in the literature. In this paper, the assessment tools and protocols used in our clinic are depicted and an overview of our activity with a brief description of the patients included in our registry, between 2018 and 2020 is provided. The cohort of 290 patients assessed in our NIU clinic, their demographics, sources of referral, details about immunosuppression treatment, and internal and external collaborations is described. This experience-based manuscript aims to describe the general functioning of our multidisciplinary NIU clinic, highlighting the benefits and drawbacks of multidisciplinary team management in patients with NIU, ultimately initiating a dialogue on what an NIU clinic should be and providing information for newly NIU clinics start-up. In conclusion, establishing a standardized and multidisciplinary clinic in NIU allows to systematically observe and follow-up this infrequent disease at a tertiary hospital level, thus improving quality of care delivery and research avenues. Keywords: uveitis, ophthalmology, rheumatology