Antidestructive influence of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs in patients with very early, early and late rheumatoid arthritis
Iaremenko O.B. , Mikitenko G.M.
Summary. Summary. In this clinical study the degree of radiological progression in patients with very early, early and advanced rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving methotrexate (MTX), leflunomide (LF), sulfasalazine (SS) or combination of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) was determined. It was found that in patients with very early RA using DMARD treatment the rate of erosive progression is significantly less compared to advanced RA. The effectiveness of all variants of DMARD therapy in very early and early RA is equally, while in advanced RA LF and CBT are significantly superior to MTX and SS. The most important determinants of radiological progression of very early RA are level of antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) and total radiographic score, early RA — the presence of anti-CCP and total radiographic score, advanced RA — erosion score, level of anti-CCP, elevated levels of CRP and ESR value.
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