Birdshot retinochoroidopathy

In ophthalmology, birdshot retinochoroidopathy is a form of uveitis, an eyeinflammation. It is suspected to be an autoimmunedisease, and is associated with the haplotype Human leukocyte antigen(HLA)-A29 in 99% of the cases. Therefore if birdshot retinochoroidopathy is suspected, a person would be tested to determine if they are HLA-A29 positive; only a small percentage of the general population is positive for this gene.

Possible symptoms include:

• loss of color vision
• night blindness
• small light-colored spots on the retina

The name of the condition comes from small light-colored spots on the retina, scattered in a pattern like birdshotfrom a shotgun, but these spots are not present in all cases, and might not be present in early stages.

External links

• Indiana University Department of Ophthalmology
• www.uveitis.net
• www.emedicine.com

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdshot+retinochoroidopathy Wikipedia article Birdshot retinochoroidopathy.