Non-infectious causes of uveitis in 70 Swiss children.

Many diseases are linked with uveitis, but few studies have specifically looked at the noninfectious triggers of childhood uveitis in Central Europe. The charts of 70 paediatric patients with non-infectious uveitis admitted to the Department of Pediatrics, University of Bern, Switzerland, between 1983 and 1998 were therefore reviewed. In the patients the age at presentation with uveitis ranged between 0.3 and 16 y, median 8.5 y. Based on the localization, uveitis anterior was diagnosed in most cases (n = 40; 57%), followed by panuveitis (n = 20; 29%) and uveitis posterior (n = 10; 14%). Uveitis was chronic in 54 (77%) and acute in 16 (23%), bilateral in 38 (54%) and unilateral in 32 (46%) cases. An associated condition was noted in 32 (46%) cases: juvenile idiopathic arthritis in 24 cases, sarcoidosis and juvenile spondyloarthropathy in 3 cases, and Sjögren's syndrome and Behçet's disease in 1 case each. In the remaining 38 (54%) patients, no associated condition was diagnosed. It is concluded that in Swiss children, uveitis can be due to a wide spectrum of non-infectious diseases, juvenile idiopathic arthritis being the leading cause. In the majority of the children, no associated condition was recognized.

Synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome in childhood: a report of ten cases and review of the literature.

UNLABELLED: Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis is a rare chronic inflammatory musculoskeletal process observed in children and young adults. Recently, the acronym SAPHO syndrome (for synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, osteitis) was coined to emphasise the association between osteo-articular inflammations and different skin abnormalities which are aseptic and filled with neutrophils. In adults, chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis is now a classical manifestation of SAPHO syndrome. Chronic skin disorders were seen in eight of ten children on follow-up at the University Children's Hospitals in Bern and Zurich and in 61 of 260 paediatric cases reported in the literature. The different skin lesions were palmoplantar pustulosis (n = 40), non-palmoplantar pustulosis (n = 6), psoriasis vulgaris (n = 16) or severe acne (n = 4). More rarely Sweet syndrome (n = 2) or pyoderma gangrenosum (n = 1) were reported. CONCLUSION: The synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, osteitis syndrome is pertinent even in paediatrics since skin involvement is frequent.