Limited value of cyclosporine A for the treatment of patients with uveitis associated with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Tappeiner, Christoph; Roesel, Martin; Heinz, Carsten; Michels, Hartmut; Ganser, Gerd; Heiligenhaus, Arnd (2009). Limited value of cyclosporine A for the treatment of patients with uveitis associated with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Eye, 23(5), pp. 1192-1198. London: Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/eye.2008.174

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

AIMS: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is often associated with severe chronic anterior uveitis (CAU), and immunosuppressive therapy may be required. In this study, the value of cyclosporine A (CsA) as monotherapy or as combination therapy for treating uveitis was studied in a large cohort of JIA children. METHODS: Multicentre retrospective study including 82 JIA children (girls n=60) suffering from unilateral or bilateral (n=55) CAU. The indication for CsA was active uveitis, although patients were on topical or systemic corticosteroids, MTX, or other immunosuppressive drugs. RESULTS: Inactivity of uveitis during the entire treatment period (mean 3.9 years) was obtained with CsA monotherapy in 6 of 25 (24%) patients, but more often when CsA was combined with the immunosuppressives (35/72 patients; 48.6%, P=0.037), or MTX (18/37 patients, 48.6%, P=0.065), which had already been given. With CsA (mean dosage 2.9 mg/kg), systemic immunosuppressive drugs and steroids could be reduced by >or=50% (n=19) or topical steroids reduced to <or=2 drops/eye/day (n=40) in selected patients. Pre-existing cystoid macular oedema did not resolve under CsA treatment in any of the patients. In nine patients (11%), CsA was discontinued because of systemic hypertension (n=1), elevated creatinine levels (n=3), or other adverse effects (n=5). CONCLUSIONS: These observations suggest that CsA has limited value as a second-line immunosuppressive drug for the treatment of JIA-associated CAU. The efficacy was better as the combination therapy in patients not responding to other immunosuppressives (eg, MTX) than the systemic monotherapy.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Head Organs and Neurology (DKNS) > Clinic of Ophthalmology

UniBE Contributor:

Tappeiner, Christoph

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0950-222X

ISBN:

18551142

Publisher:

Nature Publishing Group

Language:

English

Submitter:

Christoph Tappeiner

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 15:05

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:20

Publisher DOI:

10.1038/eye.2008.174

PubMed ID:

18551142

Web of Science ID:

000266023200033

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/28264 (FactScience: 119047)

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback