Shimizu Yui, Takeda Tsuyoshi, Matsumoto Ryusuke, Yoshida Kou, Nakajima Junta, Atarashi Tomofumi, Yanagisawa Hideyuki, Kikuchi Keisuke, Kikuchi Hideaki
Department of 3rd Internal Medicine, Obihiro-Kosei General Hospital.
Nihon Shokakibyo Gakkai Zasshi. 2012 May;109(5):774-80.
A 63-year-old woman with Behçet disease presented with epigastric pain due to refractory gastric ulcers. Examinations indicated that these ulcers were caused by gastrointestinal Behçet disease. Steroid therapy proved ineffective, so we gave 5mg/kg of infliximab. However, since the patient responded poorly to the treatment the infliximab was discontinued and a total gastrectomy was performed. After surgery, a marginal ulcer developed and infliximab was again administered. Although this brought about improvement in the conditions of the marginal ulcer, infusion-related hypersensitivities in the patient caused polyarthralgia. We therefore discontinued the infliximab treatment and began 40 mg of adalimumab every other week. After 3 months of the new treatment, the patient's marginal ulcer completely healed and her epigastric pain disappeared. This case suggests that adalimumab may be as useful as infliximab for treating refractory gastrointestinal Behçet disease.
