Corneal melt is a complication that could affect very ill eyes and lead to the thinning of
the cornea (the clear window covering of the eyes). This thinning can lead to severe
consequences such as the leakage of the liquid inside the eye (ocular perforation), or even
blindness. Corneal melt can be caused by certain infections or as a sterile process. This
project only includes patients with a sterile corneal melt (without an infection) caused by
diseases such as rosacea, Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, Stevens
Johnson syndrome, as well as toxic epidermal necrolysis or mucous membrane pemphigoid.
Infliximab is an antibody against tumour necrosis factor alpha and has been used to treat or
prevent corneal melt in certain patients with inflammatory of auto-immune disease. In this
situation, infliximab was used intravenous (using veins) in order to treat the whole body.
This study's hypothesis is that infliximab can safely be used as eye drops for the treatment
of sterile corneal melt.
Phase:
Phase 1
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
Collaborator:
Fonds de recherche en ophtalmologie de l'Université de Montréal