Review
Developments in the clinical understanding of rheumatoid arthritis
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* Corresponding author: Josef S Smolen josef.smolen@wienkav.at
Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine III, Medical University of Vienna, and 2nd Department of Medicine, Hietzing Hospital, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2009, 11:204 doi:10.1186/ar2535
Published: 30 January 2009Abstract
The changes occurring in the field of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) over the past decade or two have encompassed new therapies and, in particular, a new look at the clinical characteristics of the disease in the context of therapeutic improvements. It has been shown that composite disease activity indices have special merits in following patients, that disease activity governs the evolution of joint damage, and that disability can be dissected into several components – among them disease activity and joint damage. It has also been revealed that aiming at any disease activity state other than remission (or, at worst, low disease activity) is associated with significant progression of joint destruction, that early recognition and appropriate therapy of RA are important facets of the overall strategy of optimal clinical control of the disease, and that tight control employing composite scores supports the optimization of the therapeutic approaches. Finally, with the advent of novel therapies, remission has become a reality and the treatment algorithms encompassing all of the above-mentioned aspects will allow us to achieve the rigorous aspirations of today and tomorrow.