Long-term efficacy and safety of infliximab in the treatment of Behçet's disease.

PURPOSE: To assess the long-term efficacy and safety of infliximab therapy for the treatment of Behçet's disease patients with ocular involvement who failed to respond or did not tolerate conventional treatment.

METHODS

Retrospective study of 12 patients treated with infliximab at a starting dose of 5 mg/kg.

RESULTS

Infliximab was infused during a mean of 31.43 months. The mean follow-up period was 35.77 months (range: 6-94). All patients achieved remission, 7 of whom did not need any adjuvant immunosuppressive therapy and 9 of whom were able to discontinue systemic corticosteroids. Visual acuity remained stable or improved in 20/21 eyes. Ten patients did not report any side effect of the medication or those were mild and tolerable. We observed two major adverse events requiring withdrawal of infliximab.

CONCLUSIONS

Infliximab therapy is an effective biologic agent for the treatment of ocular inflammation in Behçet's disease unresponsive to the standard immunosuppressive therapy.