Endocrine ophthalmopathy: state-of-the-art approaches
The issues pertaining to etiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, and treatment of endocrine ophthalmopathy (EOP) are discussed. EOP is a heterogeneous autoimmune eye disease most frequently associated with Graves'' disease even though it is just as well encountered both in the patients presenting with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis and in the absence of thyroid dysfunction. Although pathogenesis of EOP remains to be elucidated its autoimmune nature with the involvement of sensitized T-lymphocytes and autoantibodies against orbital tissues leaves no doubt. The understanding of mechanisms underlying the development of EOP gave impetus to the creation of new groups of medicines selectively acting on various pathogenic processes associated with this disease. The management of EOP remains a challenging problem requiring a multi-disciplinary approach for its solution.