AB010. Hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment of morphea: a retrospective review of 105 patients from Mayo Clinic, 1996–2013

Background: Few studies exist to support the treatment of morphea (localized scleroderma) with hydroxychloroquine.

Methods: Retrospective study of 105 patients who were diagnosed with morphea and treated with hydroxychloroquine at our institution between 1996 and 2013. To assess the median time to initial and maximal responses, a time-to-event analysis was conducted using Kaplan-Meier analysis.

Results: Of 105 patients (median age at diagnosis, 34 years), 82 (78.1%) were female. Forty-three patients (41.0%) had a complete response; 41 (39.0%) had a partial response >50%; 13 (12.4%) had a partial response <50%; and 8 patients (7.6%) had no response to hydroxychloroquine. The median time to initial response was 5 months; while the median time to maximum response was 14 months. Sixty-nine of 84 patients (82.1%) who had either a complete response or partial response >50% received hydroxychloroquine as monotherapy. Eleven patients (10.5%) experienced side effects of hydroxychloroquine; the most common was nausea (7 patients).

Conclusions: Hydroxychloroquine is a valuable treatment option of morphea due to its high response rate and low rate of adverse effects; however, prospective studies are needed to demonstrate its true efficacy in morphea.

Keywords: Morphea; hydroxychloroquine treatment