Abstract
Objective: Results of long-term adalimumab (ADA) treatment were investigated including a radiologic evaluation.
Subject and methods: The subjects were 56 RA patients (14 males and 42 females with a mean age of 61.4 years) that had received ADA treatment for at least 2 years after the initiation of treatment, and 39 of whom had switched from other anti-TNF drugs while 17 did not administer any anti-TNF drug. ADA was subcutaneously administered for two weeks. The clinical evaluation was performed at 4,8,12,16,24,52, and 104 weeks after the initiation of treatment using the EULAR improvement standards (DAS28CRP). At 2 years after the initiation of treatment, functional and radiographic evaluations were performed using the MHAQ and sharp score methods.
Results: Of the 56 patients, 22 continued ADA treatment for 2 years, and both DAS28CRP and plasma MMP-3 concentrations decreased significantly in 2 years. The discontinued cases were 25 patients due to poor response or secondary failure,5 due to adverse drug reactions, and 4 due to their personal circumstances.
In the functional evaluation of the 22 patients that continued the treatment for 2 years, using MHAQ, significant improvement was obtained and even the radiographic evaluation revealed inhibition of bone joint degeneration particularly in the good response group (14 patients).Conclusion: Among the patients whose disease activity was inhibited by ADA, clear improvement was seen in the functional and radiologic evaluations after two years.
