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New medication, surgery may offer relief for patients with psoriatic arthritis
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A review article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons noted that medications or biologic agents that target T-cells appear to offer significant benefit to patients with psoriatic arthritis.
“Although these new immunosuppressive agents are expensive, they are the only agents that have demonstrated a decrease in radiologic progression of peripheral arthritis and can be used to manage associated types of inflammation, as well as skin and nail disease,” lead author Michael S. Day, MD, MPhil, stated in a news release.
Although approximately 15% of patients with psoriatic arthritis will display skin lesions prior to developing arthritic symptoms, Day noted in the release that patients with more severe psoriasis are not necessarily at a greater risk for developing psoriatic arthritis.
“When patients in dermatology clinics are screened for evidence of inflammatory arthritis, many have evidence of joint inflammation that they did not report, suggesting that many of these patients are undiagnosed and untreated,” study co-author Susan M. Goodman stated in the release.
Although current treatments for psoriatic arthritis include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the review noted that drugs aimed at providing more targeted therapy could allow more psoriatic arthritis patients to avoid progressing to end-stage arthritis and joint destruction.
Additionally, urged on by similarities between psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), researchers have begun to consider early, aggressive treatment — an approach that has proved successful in patients with RA. Surgery could be considered for patients who have developed joint deformities as a result of psoriatic arthritis, but the release added there have been few large-scale, high-quality clinical trials.
“Initially, it was believed [psoriatic arthritis] had a more benign course than does RA, but this belief has been disproven,” Goodman stated.
“The disease typically follows a moderate course, but up to 48% of cases develop into destructive arthritis in which the inflammatory process leads to bone erosion and loss of joint architecture,” Day added.
Reference:
- Day MS, Nam D, Goodman S, et al. Psoriatic arthritis. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2011. doi: 10.5435/JAAOS-20-01-028.
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