Polymerase chain reaction in ocular and adnexal inflammation: Our experience with review of literature

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a revolutionary innovation involving enzymatic amplification of nucleic acid sequences in repeated cycles of denaturation, oligonucleotide annealing, and DNA polymerase extension. It is a unique molecular biologic tool that allows the rapid production of analytic quantities of DNA from small amounts of starting material. PCR can be performed on any ocular specimen or biopsy. The most common application of the PCR is human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing. A universal bacterial PCR can be very helpful for the diagnosis of bacterial endophthalmitis at an early stage of the disease. There are also several advances in the application of PCR in the recent time, and this technology has opened a new era in the diagnosis and treatment of uveitis, enabling ophthalmologists to establish new clinical entities of uveitis caused by infectious microorganisms, identify pathogens in the eyes of many patients with uveitis, and determine prompt diagnosis and appropriate therapy.