Long-term outcomes of infliximab in patients with Behcet's disease-associated uveitis

Objectives To evaluate long-term outcomes of infliximab (IFX) treatment in patients with Behcet's disease (BD)-associated uveitis. Patients and methods We retrospectively analyzed the cases of patients with BD-associated uveitis treated with IFX for > 5 years. We compared the numbers of ocular inflammatory attacks, ocular disease activities, and visual acuity before and after the initiation of IFX treatment. Results The 24 patients were 20 men and 4 women. Their mean age at the initiation of IFX treatment was 37.3 +/- 9.2 years. The mean term from the initiation of IFX treatment was 10.3 +/- 2.4 years. The average number of ocular inflammatory attacks was 5.4 +/- 2.1 per 12 months before the IFX treatment and significantly lower at 0.83 +/- 0.96 per 12 months after the initiation of IFX treatment (p < 0.05). We used a scoring system for BD-associated uveitis named the Behcet's disease ocular attack score 24 (BOS24) to estimate the changes in ocular disease activities between before and after initiation of IFX treatment. The average score decreased significantly from 7.58 +/- 2.77 to 2.55 +/- 2.74 after the initiation of IFX treatment (p < 0.05). Even after > 5 years of the treatment, both the number of ocular attacks and the BOS24 score kept decreasing. The visual acuity in 42 of 48 eyes (24 patients) was improved or maintained. Conclusions IFX was effective for controlling ocular inflammatory attacks and diminishing ocular disease activities in patients with BD-associated uveitis, and it maintained the patients' visual acuity.

Automated summary

Infliximab treatment is effective in controlling ocular inflammatory attacks and reducing ocular disease activities in patients with Behcet's disease-associated uveitis, while also maintaining their visual acuity.