Successful treatment of familial Mediterranean fever attacks with thalidomide in a colchicine resistant patient

Abstract

Colchicine is the treatment of choice in familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) both for attacks and for prevention of secondary amyloidosis. The overall non-responder rate varies from 5-10 to 40 %. Thalidomide is known to blunt the acute phase response. We report the efficacy of the addition of thalidomide to colchicine in controlling the febrile attacks and acute phase response in a patient with FMF resistant to 2 mg colchicine per day.