Purpose: We describe a case of posterior scleritis presenting as the first manifestation in a Chinese patient with immunoglobin A nephropathy (IgAN).
Methods: Retrospective review of our patient and review of the published case reports from PubMed search.
Results: A 43-year-old woman developed bilateral posterior scleritis. Microscopic hematuria and proteinuria was found by urinalysis, and a kidney biopsy revealed IgAN. The posterior scleritis was resolved with oral prednisolone. For the review, 12 cases of episcleritis (70.6%), 4 cases of scleritis (23.5%), and 1 case of posterior scleritis (5.9%) associated with IgAN were analyzed. Five patients (29.4%) had scleritis or episcleritis as the first presenting manifestation.
Conclusions: Posterior scleritis may be the first manifestation of IgAN in a patient. For any adult patient with scleral/episcleral inflammation, urinalysis should be done to rule out IgAN.
Keywords: Episcleritis; immunoglobin A nephropathy (IgAN); posterior scleritis; scleritis; steroids.