Retinal periphlebitis is a disease with recurrent hemorrhages into the vitreous and usually occurs in young men. The pathologic characteristic of the disease is a chronic inflammatory exudate within the walls of the vessels, being confined principally to the veins.
Retinal periphlebitis is believed to be due to an inflammation of infectious or toxic origin. It is not a clinical expression of a single disease. It has been found associated with cerebral vascular lesions. The most striking form is juvenile retinoangiopathy, or Eales's disease— recurrent intraocular hemorrhages in young adults. The etiologic factor has not been established; the cause may be a tuberculous, septic focus or thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease). The condition is found in young adults who have retinal and recurrent vitreal hemorrhages and thromboses, frequently leading to proliferating retinitis, detachment of the retina and glaucoma.
The 3 patients whose cases are reported here were under observation during 1943