Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate long term outcomes of infliximab(IFX) in patients with Behcet’s disease–related uveitis.
Methods :
This was a retrospective study of patients with Behcet’s disease-related uveitistreated with IFX for more than 5 years. We comparednumbers of ocular inflammatory attacks, ocular disease activities, visual acuity before and after initiation of IFX therapy.
Results :
19 patients were 15 men and 4 women. A mean age at the initiation of IFX therapy was 39.9 ± 11.5 years old. A mean term from initiation of IFX therapy was 8.7 ± 1.7 years. The average number of ocular inflammatory attacks was 4.6 ± 2.6 per 12 months before initiation of IFX therapy, 1.3 ± 1.1 per 12 months after initiation of IFX therapy. The number of ocular attacks statistically decreased after initiation of IFX therapy (p〈 0.05). By using a novel scoring system for Behcet’s disease-related uveitis, termed Behcet’s disease ocular attack score 24 (BOS24), we estimated the changes in ocular disease activities both before and after initiation of IFX therapy. The average score statistically decreased from 6.9 ± 4.1 to 1.8 ± 2.3 after initiation of IFX therapy (p〈 0.05). Even after more than 5 years, both the number of ocular attacks and the score of ocular attack were kept decreasing. In regards to Visual acuity, 24 eyes out of 38 eyes(19patiens) were improved or maintained.
Conclusions :
IFX was effective for controlling ocular inflammatory attacks and diminishing ocular disease activities, maintaining visual acuity in patients with Behcet’s disease-related uveitis.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.