Treatment of Graves' ophthalmopathy with cyclosporin A

Six patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy (2 with acute and 4 with chronic alterations) were treated with cyclosporin A (10 mg/kg/day) for 5 weeks. This treatment had no effect on either the ocular manifestations (protrusion, eye muscle function) or subjective well-being of the patients. In contrast, creatinine clearance decreased from 83.5 to 55.5 ml/min during treatment, but normalized (94.9 ml/min) after cessation of the drug. A transient increase in serum 4-androstenedione was observed in 3 patients. We conclude that cyclosporin A has no convincing effect in the treatment of Graves' ophthalmopathy, but rather exerts serious renal effects.