Efficacy and safety of long-term treatment with low-dose rituximab for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder / 中华眼底病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of repeated treatments with low-dose rituximab for relapsing neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).Methods A perspective study.21 patients who were diagnosed with NMOSD one year ago were recruited for rituximab treatment.Of 21 patients,one was male,20 were females.Onset age was 10-51 years,the mean onset age was (26.2± 12.0) years.Duration of disease was 2.3-25.8 years,the mean duration was (9.2 ± 5.9) years.Best corrected vision activity (BCVA),expanded disability status scale (EDSS),annualized relapsing rate (ARR) were valued to investigate the efficacy and safety of repeated treatments with low-dose rituximab.The BCVA was examined using Snellen chart,and converted to logMAR.The mean BCVA was 1.13 ± 1.09,the mean BCVA in better eyes was 0.4±0.68,the mean BCVA in latter eyes was 1.87±0.90.The mean EDSS was 3.09±0.70.The mean ARR was 1.04± 0.65.All patients underwent two cycles of RTX treatment.The annually induction treatment was RTX 100 mg per week for 4 weeks.Of 21 patients,12 patients had treatment within one month after attack.The mean follow-up period was (28.4±4.9) months.The side effects were recorded,BCVA,EDSS,ARR were valued to investigate the efficacy and safety of repeated treatments with low-dose rituximab.Paired t test,independent sample t test and Chi-squared test were used.Results The mean BCVA at last follow-up was 0.62 ± 0.91,the mean BCVA in better eye was 0.62±0.91,the BCVA in latter eye was 1.0± 1.01.The mean EDSS was 2.26± 1.07.The mean ARR was 0.21 ± 0.3.After the treatment,patient had significant improvement on BCVA in worst eye (t=4.256),ARR (t=2.900),EDSS (t=4.620) with the significant differences (P＜0.05).Thirteen relapses in 9 patients were observed.B lymph cells were more than 0.01％ in all relapses.There was no significant difference on the BCVA in better eye (t=1.840,P＞0.05).There were 9 patients had relapse,13 times in total.Of 13 relapses,B lymph cell count was performed in 12 relapses,and the counts were 0.01％-0.14％.There were no significant difference between relapsed patients and non-relapsed patients on onset age (t=0.67,P=0.51),whether underwent plasma exchange treatment (x2=1.61,P＞ 0.05),with/without auto-immune antibody ratio (x2=1.61,P＞ 0.05).Of 21 patients,8 patients had side effects,including 5 patients with infection,4 patients with chest congestion,3 patients with hair losing,2 patients with skin rashes,headache and short of breath,1 patient with tinnitus,palpitation and fatigue.Four patients had more than one symptom.Of all patients who had side effects,slowing down the infusion speed of RTX or infusing 5 mg of dexamethasone could relieve the discomfort.Conclusion Lose-dose rituximab reduces the frequency of NMOSD relapses and is well tolerated.