BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT IN PATIENTS WITH REFRACTORY BEHÇET’S UVEITIS: A RETROSPECTIVE SINGLE-CENTRE STUDY

Aim:This study aims to evaluate the examination findings and treatment outcomes of patients receiving biological therapy for Behçet’s uveitis (BU) in a single center clinic. Material and Methods:This retrospective, single-center study included patients diagnosed with BU who were treated with adalimumab (ADA) or infliximab (IFX). The demographic data of the patients, the medications used at the time of initial presentation, best-corrected visual acuity at the first and final examinations, findings of the anterior and posterior segments, presence of active uveitis, fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) and optical coherence tomography findings, drug-related side effects, and medications used at the last visit were recorded. Results:Thirty-four patients were included in the study. Seven (20.58%) were female and 27 (79.41%) were male. At initial presentation, 38.2% of the eyes had a pan-uveitis attack. Fifteen patients were receiving anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors at first visit. In the first FFA, disc staining and capillary leakage were detected in 47 eyes (69.1%), while 14 eyes (20.5%) showed disc staining alone. Sixteen (47.05%) patients received ADA as the first-line biologic agent, and 2 (5.8%) patients were started on IFX. At the final visit, the clinical remission rate was 85.2%, and the angiographic remission rate was 44.1%. Thirty patients (88.2%) were receiving biological therapy at the last visit. Conclusion:Biological agents can be successfully used in cases of BU that complicated or resistant to conventional immunosuppressive therapy. FFA is the most important diagnostic tool for evaluating subclinical inflammation in patient follow-ups.