[Anakinra in refractory adult onset Still's disease]

Adult onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare--but potentially dangerous and difficult to treat--generalized auto-inflammatory disease which shares some similarities with the systemic form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SoJIA or Still's disease).

AOSD was diagnosed in 2 young adult women of 21 and 23 years old. The disease was found to be resistant to treatment in these patients. The patients were treated successively with NSAIDs, glucocorticoids, methotrexate and anti tumour necrosis factor(TNF)-α antagonists, with only partial effects or none at all. Treatment with the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist anakinra was subsequently started, which led to remission of AOSD.

These cases illustrate the clinical spectrum of AOSD and the possibility of an important addition to the therapeutic arsenal for treatment of refractory AOSD.