Abstract
Objective: With the proper safety procedures, we investigated the possibility of reducing the infusion time of infliximab (INFX) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to 1 hour to decrease the burden of infusion on patients.
Methods: In patients with RA treated at least 5 times with 2-hour infusion of INFX without adverse infusion reactions, the infusion time was reduced to 90 min. Only in patients successfully treated with 90-min infusion of INFX without infusion reactions at least twice was the infusion time further reduced to 1 hour.
Results: Thirty patients (26 females & 4 males, mean age: 49.1±15.6 years, history of RA: 8.2±8.8 years) were treated with 2-hour INFX infusion. Five of the 30 showed various infusion reactions, whereas 25 of the 30 were treated successfully without infusion reactions 12.4±6.5 times. Twenty-two of the 25 patients were subsequently treated with 90-min infusion 3.4±2.5 times and only 1 patient showed a mild infusion reaction. Seventeen of the 21 were then treated with 1-hour infusion 6.1±4.1 times and only 1 patient showed a very mild infusion reaction. The infusion reaction occurring when the infusion time was reduced to 90 min was treated with the administration of antihistamine and acetaminophen, and the infusion of INFX was completed with a decreased 2-hour infusion rate. In the case of the patient who had an infusion reaction associated with the 1-hour infusion, the reaction was very mild and it was successfully treated immediately by simply slowing down the infusion rate to 2 hours.
Conclusion: The infusion time of INFX can be safely reduced by up to 1 hour without severe adverse effects in patients with RA who have been successfully treated at least 5 times with a 2-hour INFX infusion rate without infusion reactions.
