• Müge Aydın Tufan, Nihan Tekkarışmaz, and Ahmet Eftal Yücel.
• Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Başkent University, Ankara, Turkey
• Turk J Med Sci. 2021 Aug 30; 51 (4): 1719-1726.

Background And AimThis study aimed to determine the frequency of relapse, the risk factors for relapse, and the correlation of relapse with immunosuppressive regimens in patients with granulomatosis polyangiitis (GPA).Materials And MethodsThe demographic characteristics, the clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings, the immunosuppressive treatment regimens, and the remission and relapse rates of 50 patients with GPA were obtained retrospectively from medical records.ResultsThe mean relapse-free survival rates at years 1, 3, and 5 were 82%, 60%, and 50%, respectively. Increased relapse rates were observed in patients who had cavitary lung lesions (52.2% vs. 22.2%, p = 0.04) and in those who had elevated serum creatinine levels (1.8 vs. 0.9, p = 0.00). The patients received two different types of remission induction therapies; 36% of them received the combination therapy involving cyclophosphamide (CYC) and rituximab (RTX), and 62% received CYC alone. Relapse was observed in 22.3% of the patients who received the combination remission induction therapy and in 61.3% of the patients who received CYC alone (P = 0.003).ConclusionAn increased risk of relapse was observed in patients who had cavitary lung lesions and in those who had elevated serum creatinine levels. The combined use of RTX and CYC for the remission therapy in GPA reduced the relapse rates compared with the use of CYC alone.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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