Psoriatic arthritis and hypopyon-iridocyclitis. Possible mechanism of the association of psoriasis and anterior uveitis.

BACKGROUND We present a 32-year-old Japanese man with psoriatic arthritis who developed recurrent episodes of hypopyon-iridocyclitis associated with exacerbations of the arthropathy. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the mechanism of the association between psoriasis and uveitis, we analyzed the rheological characteristics of the patient's peripheral blood neutrophils during attacks and during remissions. METHODS The rheological activity of neutrophils was determined by the micropore filtration method. It was expressed as micropore filtration time when a neutrophil-erythrocyte suspension passes through a micropore filter (pore size 5 microns). RESULTS The micropore filtration time in this patient was longer than that of healthy control subjects (p < 0.01) and of psoriatic patients without uveitis (p < 0.05); it was also longer during the appearance of the eye disorder with the exacerbation of psoriatic arthritis than during remissions. CONCLUSIONS Activated neutrophils in the peripheral blood of our patient were probably responsible for the attacks of hypopyon-iridocyclitis as well as the exacerbation of psoriatic skin lesions and/or arthritis.