REVIEW - Treating very early RA

[Guest guest]

Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol. 2006 Oct;20(5):849-63.

Treating very early rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatology Research Group, Division of Immunity and Infection, Institute

of Biomedical Research, MRC Centre for Immune Regulation, University of

Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is common and leads to joint damage due to

persistent synovitis. The persistence of inflammation is maintained by

hyperplastic stromal tissue, which drives the accumulation of leukocytes in

the synovium. Aggressive treatment after the first 3-4 months of symptoms,

with either disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs or anti-tumor necrosis

factor (TNF)-alpha therapy, reduces the rate of disease progression.

However, it rarely switches off disease such that remission can be

maintained without the continued need for immunosuppressive therapy. There

is increasing evidence that the first few months after symptom onset

represent a pathologically distinct phase of disease. This very early phase

may translate into a therapeutic window of opportunity during which it may

be possible to permanently switch off the disease process. The rationale

for, and approaches to, treatment within this very early window are

discussed.

PMID: 16980210

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16980210

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

[Guest guest]

Sorry, Shirley. It seems that some physicians aren't doing their

homework and their patients pay the price.

I'm happy that you took action.

Not an MD

On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 5:36 PM, nana2livi <s.p5315@...> wrote:

> ,

> March of last year (2007) my former " quack " gp told me that I had a

> little touch of RA and when I had another really bad flare he would

> refer me to a rheumatologist. He had already given me prednisone and

> the inflammation was much better.

> I came home and started searching on the internet. That may have

> been when I joined this group, not sure though. Everything I read

> was against waiting. I made another appointment with him and

> insisted on a referral right then. Of course it took months to get

> in. This is so important and if I could find the information how

> could a doctor not know, or was it that he didn't care?

> Shirley