Academic Journal
Thalidomide for Recurrence of Symptoms following HIV-Associated Cryptococcal Meningitis
| Title: | Thalidomide for Recurrence of Symptoms following HIV-Associated Cryptococcal Meningitis |
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| Authors: | Tangkai Qi, Fang Chen, Siyue Ma, Renfang Zhang, Li Liu, Zhenyan Wang, Yang Tang, Wei Song, Jianjun Sun, Junyang Yang, Shuibao Xu, Bihe Zhao, Yinzhong Shen, Jun Chen |
| Source: | Infectious Diseases and Therapy, Vol 12, Iss 6, Pp 1667-1675 (2023) |
| Publisher Information: | Adis, Springer Healthcare, 2023. |
| Publication Year: | 2023 |
| Collection: | LCC:Infectious and parasitic diseases |
| Subject Terms: | HIV, Cryptococcal meningitis, Recurrence of symptom, Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, Thalidomide, Infectious and parasitic diseases, RC109-216 |
| More Details: | Abstract Introduction Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is a serious and fatal fungal infection that affects individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Despite treatment, recurrence of symptoms is common and could lead to poor outcomes. Corticosteroids are not always useful in treating symptom recurrence following HIV/CM; thus, alternative therapy is needed. Thalidomide has been reported to be effective in treating symptom recurrence in several patients with HIV/CM. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of thalidomide in the treatment of symptom recurrence following HIV/CM. Methods Patients who were treated with thalidomide for symptom recurrence following HIV/CM were retrospectively included. Clinical outcomes and adverse events were recorded and analyzed. Results Sixteen patients admitted between July 2018 and September 2020 were included in the analysis. During a median follow-up period of 295 (166, 419) days, all patients achieved clinical improvement in a median of 7 (4, 20) days. Among them, nine (56%) achieved complete resolution of symptoms at a median of 187 (131, 253) days, including 40% (2/5) of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), 50% (3/6) of patients with elevated ICP only, and 80% (4/5) of patients with symptoms only. Seven (43%) patients experienced nine episodes of adverse events, but no severe adverse event attributable to thalidomide was observed. None of the patients withdrew from thalidomide due to adverse events. Conclusion Thalidomide appears to be effective and safe in treating different types of symptom recurrence in HIV/CM. This study provides preliminary evidence supporting future randomized clinical trials to further investigate the efficacy and safety of thalidomide in treating symptom recurrence in this population. |
| Document Type: | article |
| File Description: | electronic resource |
| Language: | English |
| ISSN: | 2193-8229 2193-6382 |
| Relation: | https://doaj.org/toc/2193-8229; https://doaj.org/toc/2193-6382 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s40121-023-00817-x |
| Access URL: | https://doaj.org/article/9fcaa182eaf844eeb4958dd703b96b05 |
| Accession Number: | edsdoj.9fcaa182eaf844eeb4958dd703b96b05 |
| Database: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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| ISSN: | 21938229 21936382 |
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| DOI: | 10.1007/s40121-023-00817-x |
| Published in: | Infectious Diseases and Therapy |
| Language: | English |