Ordering specific test in Uveitis – Avoiding a scattershot approach

Ordering specific investigations in uveitis involves a systematic approach to identify the underlying cause and guide appropriate treatment, with the initial evaluation typically including a comprehensive eye examination, detailed medical history, and assessment of symptoms, carefully analysing risk factors and clues to diagnosis. This short discouraging the blunderbuss approach to ordering tests and taking into account both sensitivity (how well the presence of a disease is predicted by a test) and specificity (how well the absence of a disease is predicted by a test), targeting a golden ratio of minimal amount of tests for maximum amount of data (The analogous blunderbuss was a a 17th- century large-bored gun firing balls or slugs which scattered projectiles in a broad range but lacked subtlety and precision). Specific investigations may be ordered based on the clinical presentation and suspected aetiology of uveitis. Common tests include blood work to assess for infectious or autoimmune disea