title: Therapy of ocular Behçet disease.
abstract: Ocular involvement in Behçet disease (BD) is characterized by recurrent inflammatory attacks and spontaneous resolution of acute inflammatory signs. Both frequency and severity of uveitis attacks determine the magnitude of irreversible damage to intraocular structures and long-term visual prognosis. Recurrent attacks of occlusive retinal vasculitis lead to vision-threatening complications such as cystoid macular edema, retinal neovascularization, optic atrophy and retinal atrophy. This manuscript updates about the role of various drugs in the management of BD, discussing corticosteroids, disease modifying immunosuppressive drugs, and finally biologicals (anti-TNF-blocking agents and alpha interferon) which seem to be superior compared to all other available drugs in preventing loss of vision. Also recent findings from new biologicals will be summarized, and especially the role of these drugs in children will be discussed in detail. The authors suggest that at least moderate to severe retinal involvement should become treated with biologicals whenever available.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen , Tuebingen , Germany .
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zierhut
authors.forename: Ahmet M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Abu El-Asrar
authors.forename: Bahram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bodaghi
authors.forename: Ilknur
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tugal-Tutkun
mesh_terms: D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000628:therapy*; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D014605:Uveitis / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha