A Single-Center Pilot Prospective Study of Topical Application of Platelet-Derived Eye Drops for Patients with Ocular Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease.

Ocular involvement of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a complication that occurs in up to 60% of patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Conventional therapeutic options include medical and surgical procedures that are administered depending on the severity of the condition, but most of them have provided unsatisfactory results and, to date, there is no consensus about treatment. We considered that topical application of a platelet lysate, administered as eye drops, might be considered an alternative worthwhile of investigation to treat ocular surface disorders in patients suffering from cGVHD. Therefore, we conducted a single-center prospective pilot study to assess the efficacy and safety of using eye drops made from reconstituted lysed platelet concentrate. Twenty-six patients with ocular cGVHD were eligible for the study; all but 2 completed their scheduled 1-year treatment and complied with the hematologic and ophthalmic regimen. At their first assessment interviews, after 30 days of treatment, 91% of patients reported an improvement in their symptoms and for 32%, substantive objective differences were measured. Remission of corneal damage was seen for 86% of our cohort, and improved National Institutes of Health scores for 73%, of whom 8% achieved the best score of 0 (ie, non-dry eye). Similar results were seen at later time points. Comparing outcomes for our patient cohort to those determined retrospectively for patients in our institutional database revealed a 5-year overall survival (OS) of 65%. This OS is comparable to patients with limited cGVHD (75%) and is superior to that of patients with nonocular extensive cGVHD or without cGVHD (30% and 59%, respectively) (P = .013). Our results suggest that platelet-derived eye drops are a safe, practical, and well-tolerated therapeutic option that offers substantial benefits for most patients affected by ocular cGVHD at onset. The favorable OS of our patient cohort suggests that this topical therapy, rather than systemic immunosuppression, may be the treatment of choice.

Development and validation of an HPLC-UV detection assay for the determination of rufinamide in human plasma and saliva.

The development of a simple and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of the new antiepileptic drug rufinamide (RFN) in human plasma and saliva is reported. Samples (250 µl) are alkalinized with ammonium hydroxide (pH 9.25) and extracted with dichloromethane using metoclopramide as internal standard. Separation is achieved with a Spherisorb silica column (250 × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 µm) at 30 °C using as mobile phase a solution of methanol/dichloromethane/n-hexane 10/25/65 (vol/vol/vol) mixed with 6 ml ammonium hydroxide. The instrument used was a Shimadzu LC-10Av chromatograph and flow rate was 1.5 ml min(-1), with a LaChrom L-7400 UV detector set at 230 nm. Calibration curves are linear [r(2) = 0.998 ± 0.002 for plasma (n = 10) and r(2) = 0.999 ± 0.001 for saliva (n = 9)] over the range of 0.25-20.0 µg ml(-1), with a limit of quantification at 0.25 µg ml(-1). Precision and accuracy are within current acceptability standards. The assay is suitable for pharmacokinetic studies in humans and for therapeutic drug monitoring.