Efficiency of adalimumab, etanercept and infliximab in ankylosing spondylitis in clinical practice.

Background: Information on the use of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) therapies in clinical practice is a key factor in decision making, as more efficient treatments may involve substantial savings while maintaining the clinical benefits for the patient.

Objective: To assess the mean annual doses and associated costs of the three main anti-tumour necrosis factor agents used in Spanish daily clinical practice in ankylosing spondylitis patients and to correlate these costs with disease activity.

Setting: This retrospective, observational study included adult ankylosing spondylitis patients over a 4-year period that had been treated for at least 6 months with adalimumab, etanercept or infliximab at two University Hospitals in Spain.

Idiopathic recurrent pericarditis treated successfully with tumour necrosis factor alpha blocking agents (anti-TNF-α).

Idiopathic recurrent pericarditis (IRP) is defined by 2 or more episodes of acute pericarditis of unknown etiology. Either auto-immune or auto-inflammatory diseases are suspected. Usually, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, colchicine or low dose steroid treatments are effective, however, side effects and/or non-response patients are frequent.

Model of excellence in Rheumatology Day Hospitals in Spain: the HD-Reumatolex project.

Objectives: Biologics have shown greater efficacy than traditional treatments in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, although some cannot be administered on an outpatient basis. Day hospitalization requires the patient to attend the hospital for a few hours to receive those treatments that cannot be administered on an outpatient basis or that do not justify admission to hospital. Few studies have analyzed the situation of Rheumatology Day Hospitals (RDH) in Spain.

[Update of the Consensus Statement of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology on the management of biologic therapies in rheumatoid arthritis].

Objective: To provide a reference to rheumatologists and to those involved in the treatment of RA who are using, or about to use biologic therapy.

Methods: Recommendations were developed following a nominal group methodology and based on systematic reviews. The level of evidence and grade of recommendation were classified according to the model proposed by the Center for Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford.

Long-term remission of severe refractory dermatopolymyositis with a weekly-scheme of immunoglobulin followed by rituximab therapy.

We report on a 44-year-old woman affected by dermatopolymyositis resistant to conventional therapies who experienced long-term clinical improvement and remission after treatment with intravenous polyvalent immunoglobulin in a weekly schedule followed by rituximab therapy.

Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide versus anti-Sa antibodies in diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in an outpatient clinic for connective tissue disease and spondyloarthritis.

Objective: . To compare the diagnostic value of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) and anti-Sa antibodies in serum for prediction of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in an outpatient clinic for connective tissue diseases and spondyloarthritides.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to analyze the presence or absence of anti-CCP and anti-Sa antibodies in the sera of 250 randomly selected patients.