Efficacy of infliximab for hidradenitis suppurativa: assessment of clinical and biological inflammatory markers.

Treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is often unsatisfactory. The efficacy of infliximab for treatment of the disease has been suggested. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and side-effects of infliximab in the treatment of moderate to severe HS, resistant to local and systemic treatments. The secondary objective was to determine whether inflammation blood test results were changed. A retrospective monocentric study of all the patients seen consecutively for HS and treated with infliximab was performed. A median of six intravenous infusions (range 3-19) were performed. The end-points were self-improvement of HS (globally and in terms of pain, seeping and quality of life). The condition of six of seven patients improved (by nearly 50%) and none was aggravated. Adverse effects occurred in two patients; eczematous eruption in one case and cervical abscess in another case. We found no significant changes in inflammatory blood marker values. In conclusion, infliximab therapy was shown to be efficient and well tolerated in six of seven patients with HS resistant to previous therapy in our series. This was in agreement with pre-existing literature showing that 52 of 60 patients (87%) were improved after infliximab therapy.