No impact of tumor necrosis-factor antagonists on the joint manifestations of sarcoidosis.

Objective: The use of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents to treat joint manifestations of sarcoidosis has not been described. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of three such biologics in patients with these symptoms refractory to conventional therapy (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, and/or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs).

Methods: This retrospective study, covering January 2001 to September 2011, examined clinical-biological parameters collected before anti-TNF treatment (age, sex, duration of disease evolution, drugs taken), and at introduction and under anti-TNF therapy (number of painful and swollen joints, visual analog scale score of global disease activity, disease-activity score of 28 joints with erythrocyte sedimentation rate or C-reactive protein, TNF-antagonist duration).

Efficacy of anti-TNF in patients with spondyloarthritis in absence of any imaging sign.

Objective: Some clinical pictures satisfy spondyloarthritis criteria without any detected imaging signs and the question sometimes arises in clinical daily practice if biologics should be started. Our aim was to evaluate anti-TNF efficacy in patients with clinical but not imaging (radiographic, CT-scan, MRI) signs of spondyloarthritis.

Methods: This retrospective study concerned patients with axial spondyloarthritis fulfilling European Spondyloarthritis Study Group (ESSG) criteria, treated with anti-TNF after failure of conventional therapies.