Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học General Psychiatry cung cấp cho các bạn kiến thức về ngành y đề tài: Traditional DMARD therapy: is it sufficient? | Available online http content 8 3 211 Review Aspects of early arthritis Traditional DMARD therapy is it sufficient Klaus P Machold Valerie PK Nell Tanja A Stamm and Josef S Smolen Division of Rheumatology Department of Internal Medicine III Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria Corresponding author Klaus P Machold Published 15 May 2006 This article is online at http content 8 3 211 2006 BioMed Central Ltd Arthritis Research Therapy 2006 8 211 doi ar1966 Abstract There is increasing evidence for beneficial effects of early DMARD disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy over delayed treatment in patients who present with arthritis of recent onset. However no universal consensus exists concerning the choice of initial drug or whether single drugs or combinations should be given as initial treatments. Recent studies have focused on the benefits of various strategies in which treatments were tailored to achieve low levels of disease activity as assessed using validated response criteria. These studies demonstrated superiority of aggressive over conventional approaches. Whether the inclusion of tumour necrosis factor antagonists or other biologic targeted therapies in such strategies confers additional benefits in terms of improved long-term outcomes must be clarified by further studies. Assessment of risks in the individual patient allowing individual tailoring of the initial treatment would be desirable. Introduction Diagnostic and treatment paradigms for rheumatoid arthritis RA and other potentially destructive arthritides have changed over recent years. Based on recognition of the risks that these diseases convey for patients in terms of quality of life and mortality 1-4 it has become a mantra to diagnose and treat as early as possible 5 . Parallel to this development it has been recognized that conventional criteria for classification of destructive arthritides such as RA
