Acute retinal necrosis

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “Acute retinal necrosis.” (Chem Immunol Allergy. 2007;92:244-53). Authors are Kezuka T and Atherton SS, from the Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Medical University Hospital, Japan. Acute retinal necrosis (ARN) is a rare disease that is usually caused by one of the three neurotropic human herpesviruses – herpes simplex virus type 1(HSV-1), HSV-2 and varicella-zoster virus (VZV). Although much is known about the clinical course of the disease and its treatment and about the viruses that cause it, comparatively little is known about its pathogenesis. This article will review the history of ARN, the typical clinical findings, and methods of diagnosis. The combined information from human and mouse studies will be discussed to suggest mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of ARN in human patients. Finally, puzzles and questions about the disease will be considered. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.