Mycophenolate Mofetil Therapy in Refractory Inflammatory Eye Disease.

PURPOSE To study the efficacy and incidence of treatment-related side effects of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) therapy in patients with noninfectious inflammatory eye diseases. METHODS Retrospective cohort study of 27 Chilean patients treated for noninfectious inflammatory eye diseases using MMF therapy over a 10-year period. Main outcome measures were: ability to control ocular inflammation and to taper prednisone to ≤10 mg daily (treatment success); incidence of treatment-related side effects. RESULTS The proportion of patients with sustained control of inflammation was 81.48% at 6 months. Additionally 55.56% and 22.22% of patients succeeded in tapering their prednisone to 5-10 mg/day and <5 mg/day, at 6 months. Two patients developed a neoplasia during MMF therapy; however, this cohort is too small to interpret the significance of this relation to MMF treatment. CONCLUSIONS MMF seems to be an effective corticosteroid-sparing agent with an acceptable safety profile.