Biological therapy in refractory cases of uveitis and scleritis: An analysis of 18 cases from a tertiary eye care center from South India

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of biologic therapy in a cohort of patients with various types of refractory non-infectious uveitis and scleritis. METHODS: A retrospective observational study on patients with non-infectious uveitis and scleritis who were not responding or had a high recurrence rate with the conventional treatment and had received biologic therapy. RESULTS: We studied 18 patients (33 eyes) who received biological therapy between January 2017 and November 2019. The mean age was 30 ± 17 years and mean duration of uveitis was 36.8 months (range 1–120 months). Anterior uveitis (27.7%) was most commonly observed followed by scleritis, panuveitis, posterior, and intermediate uveitis. The most common etiology was Behçet's disease (4 patients, 22.2%) followed by juvenile idiopathic arthritis (3 patients, 16.6%), granulamotosis polyangitis, and idiopathic (2 patients each, 11.1%). Majority had trialled one or more immunosuppressive and were refractory in nature. Maximum patients had received adalimumab (61%) followed by infliximab (22%), rituximab (12%), and golimumab (6%). The median prednisolone dose was reduced from 30 mg (range 7.5–60 mg) to 5 mg (range 0–10 mg) after biological therapy (P = 0.002). Significant visual improvement was observed post biologic therapy (mean log mar VA 0.41 ± 0.62 improved to 0.23 ± 0.48 at the final visit, P = 0.008). Maximum number of patients (16 patients, 89%) responded well with biological therapy. Three patients developed recurrence and systemic complications were observed in two patients. CONCLUSION: Biologic therapy is effective in non-infectious refractory uveitis who were resistant to conventional therapy and may prolong disease recurrence.