A retrospective analysis of low dose, intranasal injected bevacizumab (Avastin) in hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia
- نوع فایل : کتاب
- زبان : انگلیسی
- مؤلف : C. Rohrmeier · H. G. Sachs · T. S. Kuehnel
- چاپ و سال / کشور: 2011
Description
The constantly recurring epistaxis means a great reduction of quality of life for patients with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). As yet, an ideal treatment has not been found. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been described as a possible new therapy. In particular, the success of submucosal doses <100 mg has not been analysed before. We injected bevacizumab (Avastin) submucosally in addition to Nd:YAG laser therapy. Doses <7.5 mg were used. To investigate the eVect of these additional injections in comparison to laser therapy alone, a retrospective analysis was done. For this purpose a standardized patient questionnaire was completed, which included recording the patients’ Epistaxis Severity Score (ESS) before and after the antibody treatment. Besides, patient Wles were analysed to collect objective data like haemoglobin levels and the number of blood transfusions needed. Data for eleven patients could be analysed. A signiWcant improvement in the ESS resulting from additional bevacizumab therapy was observed (p < 0.01). In particular, the frequency of epistaxis (p = 0.011), duration of epistaxis (p < 0.01), severity of epistaxis (p < 0.01) and the need for acute medical treatment (p = 0.014) decreased signiWcantly. The haemoglobin levels increased signiWcantly (p = 0.011) and the number of blood transfusions declined. There were no side eVects caused by the antibody treatment. Additional injections of a low dose of bevacizumab seem to be superior to Nd:YAG laser therapy alone. These results justify further studies
Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol, Received: 30 January 2011 / Accepted: 18 July 2011 © Springer-Verlag 2011
