Efficacy of curcumin in the management of chronic anterior uveitis

Curcumin, obtained from rhizomes of Curcuma longa, was administered orally to patients suffering from chronic anterior uveitis (CAU) at a dose of 375 mg three times a day for 12 weeks. Of 53 patients enrolled, 32 completed th e 12-week study. They were divided into two groups: one group of 18 patient s received curcumin alone, whereas the other group of 14 patients, who had a strong PPD reaction, in addition received antitubercular treatment, The p atients in both the groups started improving after 2 weeks of treatment. Al l the patients who received curcumin alone improved? whereas the group rece iving antitubercular therapy along with curcumin had a response rate of 86% . Follow up of all the patients for the nest 3 years indicated a recurrence rate of 55% in the first group and of 36% in the second group. Four of 18 (22%) patients in the first group and 3 of 14 patients (21%) in the second group lost their vision in the follow up period due to various complication s in the eyes, e.g. vitritis, macular oedema, central venous block, catarac t formation, glaucomatous optic nerve damage etc. None of the patients repo rted any side effect of the drug. The efficacy of curcumin and recurrences following treatment are comparable to corticosteroid therapy which is presently the only available standard t reatment for this disease. The lack of side effects with curcumin is its gr eatest advantage compared,vith corticosteroids, A double blind multi-centri c clinical trial with this drug in CAU is highly desirable to further valid ate the results of the present study. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.