Purpose: Orbital inflammatory syndrome (OIS) is a diagnosis of exclusion that has a variable presentation and unpredictable course. Many studies report incomplete or lack of OIS resolution with high recurrence and relapse rates. No studies to date have investigated the characteristics of both recurrence and relapse in OIS. We sought to determine this in both pediatric and adult patients.
Methods: A retrospective chart review of 56 patients with OIS was performed between 2004 and 2018. Forty-one patients were identified as adults greater than 18 years of age and 15 were identified as pediatric patients less than 18 years of age.
Results: Among 56 (41 adult and 15 pediatric) cases of OIS, 18 cases of recurrent disease (32.1%) were identified and 15 (26.8%) patients experienced relapses. All 6 (100%) pediatric patients that had recurrent disease initially suffered from relapses. In contrast, only 1 of the 12 (8.3%) recurrent adult cases initially experienced relapse. Of the 18 patients with recurrent disease, 9 (50%) had multiple recurrences. Underlying etiologies were confirmed in 5 of 18 recurrent cases (27.8%) and 5 of 38 (13.2%) non-recurrent cases. Of the 5 patients with recurrent OIS and an identified etiology, all 5 (100%) demonstrated multiple recurrences.
Conclusions: In pediatric cases, relapse was more common and prior episodes of relapse were predictive of later recurrence. Recurrence was relatively common in both groups with half of the patients having multiple recurrences. Identifiable underlying etiologies were more common in patients with recurrent OIS and those cases all demonstrated multiple recurrences.
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