Abstract
Purpose :
To assess the efficacy and clinical outcomes of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy in patients with severe uveitis unresponsive to conventional immunomodulatory agents.
Methods :
Review of clinical charts at Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institute was conducted to document response and clinical outcomes to IVIG treatment in five patients with treatment-refractory uveitis. All patients had severe and recalcitrant uveitis of diverse etiologies. Main outcome measures were control of intraocular inflammation, inducing durable remission, visual acuity, and side effects.
Results :
Treatment was effective in controlling the intraocular inflammation in four of five patients, one of these patients required one additional immunomodulatory agent to achieve remission. Durable remission was achieved in three of five patients now still in remission off IVIG. Visual acuity was maintained in four of five patients. Side effects were migraine headache in one patient, malaise and shortness of breath in other patient.
Conclusions :
Intravenous immunoglobulins therapy was an effective therapeutic modality in the treatment of refractory uveitis in four of five patients, one of these patients required one more additional immunomodulatory agent to achieve remission, the other three achieved durable remission on IVIG and we were able to taper and stop it for them.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.