On treating RA early

[Guest guest]

Today, much evidence supports the notion of treating RA early and

aggressively (with DMARDs including the biologics) to achieve better

outcomes for patients.

With early use of DMARDS, not only are you more likely to prevent

irreversible damage, you may even alter the nature of an aggressive

disease to one that is milder.

There is also much support for the " window of opportunity " theory.

That is, there is a period of time early in the disease course during

which, if you act with one or more DMARDs, you have a chance to get

the best possible result. Miss the " window, " and you may get a good

result, but not the best outcome possible.

The " wait and see " strategy of old has been replaced with the notion

that RA should be treated as a medical emergency. Instead of letting

patients suffer and their disease become increasingly unmanageable,

the best rheumatologists now aim for remission and even " no evidence

of disease " as soon as they diagnose RA.

In recent studies, it has been demonstrated that, countered early and

aggressively enough, many RA patients may achieve remission and, for a

minority, even a drug-free remission.

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Not an MD