Effect of Infliximab Therapy in Functional Improvement in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), one of the spondyloarthropathies predominantly affecting younger people, is notorious for morbidity with pain, functional impairment, and disability. Infliximab, a chimeric tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha inhibitor, has been proven as a safe and effective biologic in respect to improvement in clinical and radiological parameters in AS. This study is a humble attempt to look for disability limitations by infliximab therapy in patients with AS. Aims and objectives To look for functional improvement in AS patients treated with Infliximab in comparison with control group who were treated conservatively. Materials and methods A randomized controlled trial was done in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research and Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, from December 2015 to May 2017, recruiting 20 AS patients who fulfilled the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) criteria and had significant functional limitation. After Ethics Committee clearance, two groups were made randomly. Both groups I and II were included in the rehabilitation program. Group I, in addition, received injection infliximab on days 0, 14, and 42. Assessment by the Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI) and visual analog scale (VAS) for lower back pain was done before intervention and 2, 6, 12 weeks after initiation of treatment. Results Statistically significant positive outcome difference was seen in the first group in comparison with control group based on both outcome parameters. Conclusion Infliximab is a safe and highly efficacious biologic therapy in limiting disability in AS patients when treated early. How to cite this article Konar A, Pramanik R, Ghorai D, Banerjee A. Effect of Infliximab Therapy in Functional Improvement in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis. Indian J Phy Med Rehab 2017;28(2):59-63.