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.