Abstract
To evaluate prospectively the efficacy of methotrexate (MTX) in the treatment of recurrent idiopathic acute anterior uveitis (RIAAU). Nineteen out of 22 RIAAU patients completed the study (two patients withdrew their consent shortly after study initiation, one patient discontinued after 4 weeks because of the adverse effects). All patients were treated with MTX in a starting dose of 15 mg/week, increased to target dose of 25 mg/week after 4 weeks. In patients taking systemic corticosteroids (CS) the dose was gradually tapered (by 2.5 mg every week) until discontinuation. The mean follow-up period was 3.3 years (19–59 months). Sixteen patients (84 %) remained flare-free on MTX therapy. In the remaining three patients the mean interval between flares increased from 4.8 to 18.3 months. Systemic CS were tapered off in all patients. The number of acute anterior uveitis flares in the whole cohort decreased from 2.12 to 0.11/patient-year (p < 0.0001). All flares observed on MTX therapy occurred in HLA-B27-positive patients. MTX dosed at 25 mg/week is highly effective in the treatment of RIAAU.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Mr. Romuald Zadora-Przyłęcki for help in editing the manuscript.
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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this article.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Bachta, A., Kisiel, B., Tłustochowicz, M. et al. High Efficacy of Methotrexate in Patients with Recurrent Idiopathic Acute Anterior Uveitis: a Prospective Study. Arch. Immunol. Ther. Exp. 65, 93–97 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00005-016-0402-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00005-016-0402-1