J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  2016 Jan;57(1):50-55. 10.3341/jkos.2016.57.1.50.

The Efficacy of Infliximab in Refractory Uveitis

• Kim JH
• Lee DW
• Cho NC

• KMID: 2213838
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2016.57.1.50

Abstract

PURPOSE
To investigate the effectiveness of infliximab as treatment for refractory uveitis that recurred in spite of immunosuppressive agents.
METHODS
Thirty patients who were treated for refractory uveitis from 2002 to 2011 were included in this study. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 15 patients who were treated with Infliximab and 15 patients not treated with Infliximab. Infliximab was injected intravenously (5 mg/kg) 3 times every 4 weeks, and the patients were followed-up at 1 week, 2 weeks, and every month thereafter. Anterior chamber cell reaction with a score greater than 0.5+ was defined as recurrence of uveitis.
RESULTS
Among 15 patients treated with Infliximab, only one showed no response to the medication. The recurrence rate was significantly higher in patients receiving Infliximab treatment (1.1 +/- 0.2 times) than in those not receiving Infliximab treatment (3.1 +/- 0.3 times) (p=0.022).
CONCLUSIONS
Infliximab can be used effectively on patients with refractory uveitis. However, a future prospective randomized study is needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of Infliximab and to determine an accurate protocol regarding dosage and number of injections.

Keyword

Infliximab; Refractory uveitis; TNF-alpha

MeSH Terms

Anterior Chamber
Humans
Immunosuppressive Agents
Medical Records
Prospective Studies
Recurrence
Retrospective Studies
Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
Uveitis*
Infliximab
Immunosuppressive Agents
Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Figure

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  Figure 1. Recurrence rate between infliximab group and non-infliximab group for 1 year (Mann-Whitney U-test).

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  Figure 2. Average anterior chamber cell count of infliximab group and non-infliximab group for 1 year (repeated analysis of variance [ANOVA], p-value = 0.002). SUN = standardization of uveitis nomenclature.

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