Cyclophosphamide in systemic sclerosis: still in search of a 'real life' scenario
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* Corresponding author: Marco M Cerinic cerinic@unifi.it
1 Department of Biomedicine, Division of Rheumatology AOUC, Denothe Center, University of Florence, Viale Pieraccini 18, 50139 Florence, Italy
2 Department of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology Unit, Second University of Naples, Via Pacifici 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2009, 11:103 doi:10.1186/ar2576
Published: 23 January 2009Abstract
In systemic sclerosis (SSc), there is no proven treatment to prevent disease progression. In a recent meta-analysis of three randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and six open prospective studies on cyclophosphamide (CYC), no significant changes in lung function were observed. However, CYC is associated with an improvement of Mahler's dyspnea index, short form-36 (physical and mental domains), and health-related quality of life, contributing to the amelioration of patients' functional status. Further RCTs on early SSc are needed to assess the real efficacy of CYC in inducing remission and increasing survival.