Cyclosporine in Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis: Experience from a tertiary care centre of South Rajasthan

Background: Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis are severe, life-threatening mucocutaneous drug reactions with a high morbidity and mortality that require immediate medical care. Several immunomodulatory drugs are used for the treatment but evidence of their efficacy is limited. Cyclosporine has recently been found to have a promising role in SJS/TEN owing to its potent antiapoptotic activity. Aims: This open label prospective study was conducted to determine the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of cyclosporine in patients with SJS/TEN. Methods: This study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital of South Rajasthan during a period of 4 years (August 2015 to July 2019). Data regarding clinical profile, causative drug(s), disease severity, associated comorbidities, treatment received, and outcome were recorded in a predesigned proforma. SCORTEN prognostic score was calculated for each patient at the time of admission. Cyclosporine was administered in a dose of 5 mg/kg body weight in two divided dosage until reepithelization. Results: Out of 16 patients 10 were males and 6 were females. Mean age of patients was 30.62 +/- 16.98 years (range: 7-63). Most of the patients, i.e., 8 out of 16 had TEN, 5 patients had SJS, and 3 patients had SJS/TEN overlap. Mean +/- SD delay between onset and admission was 3.812 +/- 1.377 days (range: 2-7). Among the suspected drugs, antiepileptics (43.7%) formed the major group. Mean duration of reepithelization was 10.5 +/- 3.46 days (range: 7-15). Based on the SCORTEN, the expected mortality was 2.55 with mean predicted mortality rate of 16.43% with SD of 19.3. Limitations: 1) Sample size was small. 2) Placebo control trial could not be done due to the severity of the disease. Conclusion: We recommend cyclosporine (5 mg/kg/day) as the first line-specific immunomodulatory agent in SJS/TEN on account of its efficacy, safety, rapid reepithelization, decrease hospital stay, and reduced morbidity and mortality.