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Letter
Effects of interferon α treatment on the clinical course of refractory Behçet’s disease: an open study
  1. M Çalgüneri,
  2. M A Öztürk,
  3. İ Ertenli,
  4. S Kiraz,
  5. Ş Apraş,
  6. Z Özbalkan
  1. Department of Rheumatology Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
  1. Correspondence to:
    Dr M A Öztürk, Ostim mahallesi 89. sokak, AK-84 sitesi, A-2 blok No:8, TR-06170, Yenimahalle, Ankara, Turkey;
    makifozturk{at}yahoo.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.62.5.492

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    Interferon α (IFNα) has recently been introduced in the treatment of uveitis, mucocutaneous lesions, and arthritis of Behçet’s disease (BD).1–6 To our knowledge, there is currently no clinical trial which has evaluated the efficacy of IFNα treatment in the vascular or neurological involvement in BD. In this open study we evaluated the efficacy, toxicity, and tolerability of IFNα in the management of BD with ocular, articular, vascular, or neurological manifestations which had previously been unsuccessfully treated conventionally.

    PATIENTS AND METHODS

    A total of 29 patients (17 men, 12 women; mean age 33.2 months, range 16–51) who were resistant to conventional treatments were treated with systemic IFNα. Previous conventional treatments had been colchicine, aspirin, and penicillin plus sulfasalazine for patients with arthritis; or colchicine, aspirin, and penicillin plus steroids and/or immunosuppressive agents, azathioprine, cyclosporin A, or cyclophosphamide for ocular, vascular, and/or neurological involvement. The mean duration of the disease was 8.86 years (range 1–30). Four patients were excluded from the statistical analysis because of the short duration of treatment (<4 months).

    Seventeen patients had ocular inflammation. Eleven patients had arthritis. Ten patients had vascular disease (aneurisms in the internal cerebral and ophthalmic arteries; thrombosis of popliteal veins and left anterior descending coronary artery causing myocardial infarction; organised thrombus in superior and inferior caval, …

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