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. 2022 Summer;16(3):167-182.
doi: 10.22037/ijcn.v16i3.29322. Epub 2022 Jul 16.

The preventive Effectiveness of Rituximab in Pediatric Autoimmune and Inflammatory CNS Diseases Relapse: an Iranian Experience

Mohammad Mahdi Nasehi  1   2 , Mohammad Ghofrani  1   2 , Aydin Tabrizi  1 , Fatemeh Abdollah Gorji  2 , Bakhtyar Khosravi  3
Affiliations

The preventive Effectiveness of Rituximab in Pediatric Autoimmune and Inflammatory CNS Diseases Relapse: an Iranian Experience

Mohammad Mahdi Nasehi et al. Iran J Child Neurol. 2022 Summer.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of Rituximab (RTX) therapy as the first therapeutic choice for the long-term prevention of secondary relapse in children with AIND that had relapse after primary treatment with immunosuppressive agents other than RTX.

Materials & methods: We conducted a single-center retrospective study of 9 consecutive pediatric patients (≤ 18 years old) registered on Autoimmune and Demyelinating Disorders Database (ADDD) of Mofid Children Hospital, from 2012 to 2016 and experienced relapse following therapeutic interventions with immunosuppressive agents other than RTX.

Result: A remarkable reduction of 94.13% (p=0.015) occurred in annualized relapse rate (ARR) as a clinical indicator of therapeutic efficacy comparing before and after initiating RTX therapy.

Conclusion: Rituximab is an effective drug in relapse prevention of AIND when administrated to patients for whom initial treatment with other immunosuppressive agents fail.POWER OF EVIDENCE: This study represents Class IV evidence that RTX therapy significantly reduces ARR in pediatric AIND including DDCNS.

Keywords: CNS demyelinating diseases; Immunological disease; Rituximab; efficacy.

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Conflict of interest statement

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relationship between the mean duration of RTX therapy and reduced number of episodes
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of relapse episodes before and during treatment with RTX along with the median number of RTX therapy courses in this period
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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