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Rituximab is an antibody drug used to treat some cancers and autoimmune diseases.
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According to a large cohort study of pediatric patients, rituximab use is on the rise in the treatment of children diagnosed with vasculitis. Treatment with cyclophosphamide remains common, but it’s beginning to wane. Dialysis and mechanical ventilation also remain common, the study indicates.
The retrospective study of hospitalized children in the U.S. included the largest cohort of pediatric-onset anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients to date, according to lead author Karen E. James, MD, a pediatric rheumatologist who conducted the study while at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The researchers published the study’s results, spanning more than a decade of data, in the September issue of Arthritis Care & Research.1