Treatment options in colchicine resistant familial Mediterranean fever patients: Thalidomide and etanercept as adjunctive agents


Seyahi E., Ozdogan H., Celik S., Ugurlu S., Yazici H.

Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, cilt.24, 2006 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 24
  • Basım Tarihi: 2006
  • Dergi Adı: Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa Adresli: Evet

Özet

Objective. Regular colchicine treatment cannot control the typical febrile attacks of FMF in about 5-10% of the compliant patients. Here we report the effect of thalidomide and etanercept in 5 colchicine-resistant cases. Methods. Five (4M/1F) FMF patients between April 2005 and March 2006, who were experiencing at least 2 attacks per month, despite regular colchicine were included to the study. Four male patients were given thalidomide 100 mg/d initially. Two of these patients unresponsive to thalidomide were prescribed subcutaneous injections of etanercept 25 mg, twice a week. The female patient received etanercept as the first choice due to potential side effects. She then had to be converted to thalidomide due to a severe injection site reaction. Results. The median follow up period with thalidomide and etanercept was 8 months. Both thalidomide and etanercept lowered the number of the abdominal attacks. Conclusion. Thalidomide and etanercept might be effective as additional treatment in colchicine-resistant cases of FMF. © Copyright Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology 2006.