Efficacy and safety of leflunomide versus cyclophosphamide for initial-onset Takayasu arteritis: a prospective cohort study.

Sun YingCui XiaomengDai XiaominLin JiangLv PengMa LiliChen RongyiJi ZongfeiChen HuiyongLin-di Jiang
Published in: Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease (2020)
In total, 92 patients were enrolled. A total of 47 patients were treated with LEF, while 45 patients were treated with CYC. The CR and ER rates were 75.55%, and 88.89% at 6 months, and 85.37% and 95.12% at 12 months in the LEF group. The CR and ER rates were 39.02% and 70.73% at 6 months, and 56.41% and 82.05% at 12 months in the CYC group. The CR rate was significantly higher in the LEF group than in the CYC group both at 6 months (75.61% versus 38.24%, p < 0.01) and 12 months (77.42% versus 53.33%, p < 0.05) after adjustment for propensity scores. The incidence of side effects in the LEF group was much lower than that in the CYC group (21.28% versus 44.44%). In conclusion, LEF provided a better treatment response, along with lower reproductive toxicity, compared with CYC in initial-onset TA.