| Clinical Experience of Thalidomide in the Treatment of Korean Patients with Intestinal BehcӇet's Disease: Pilot Experience in a Single Center |
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Hyun Jung Lee, Jae Hee Cheon, Kyong Joo Lee, Hui Won Jang, Kyu Sik Jung, Eun Suk Jung, Jin Ha Lee, Seung Min Jeon, Sung Pil Hong, Tae Il Kim, Won Ho Kim |
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Department of Internal Medicine and Institute of Gastroenterology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
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| 한국인 베체트 장염 환자에서 Thalidomide의 치료 경험:단일 기관의 초기 경험 |
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이현정, 천재희, 이경주, 장희원, 정규식, 정은석, 이진하, 전승민, 홍성필, 김태일, 김원호 |
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연세대학교 의과대학 내과학교실, 소화기병연구소 |
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| Abstract |
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Intestinal BehcӇet's disease (BD) often leads to severe complications, such as perforation or massive bleeding, and therefore is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality. As thalidomide has been identified and its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties clarified, this drug has been used in cases of systemic BD with some success. Herein we report a case series of four patients with intestinal BD to share our clinical experience with thalidomide treatment. We studied the effects of thalidomide in four patients who had a chronic relapse of intestinal BD requiring the frequent use of systemic steroids due to refractoriness to prior treatments, such as 5-aminosalycylic acid and immunosuppressants. Pre- and post-treatment clinical and laboratory data, including clinical symptoms, laboratory data, disease activity index for intestinal BD, and thalidomide toxicity were recorded. Three of the four patients had a clinical and radiologic improvement after thalidomide treatment and all of the patients discontinued steroid therapy. Although two patients tolerated thalidomide, two patients could not continue the treatment because they suffered from edema and neutropenia. Thalidomide could be considered a therapeutic option for the treatment of intestinal BD. (Intest Res 2010;8:63-69) |
| Key Words:
BehcӇ, et Syndrome, Gastrointestinal Disease, Thalidomide |
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