Abstract
Concomitant treatment of methotrexate (MTX) up to 8 mg/week and adalimumab was initiated. However, MTX dose increment was performed for 17 (1 male, 16 females, mean age 59.7 years, and mean duration of illness 16.2 years)no response cases or loss of response cases to examine and investigate the efficacy and safety. Mean MTX dose for no response cases or loss of response cases, and at base line and final evaluation were 6.1 mg/week and 9.4 mg/week, respectively, showing a mean increment of 3.3 mg/week. The maximal dose of MTX at the final evaluation was 12 mg/week. Efficacy evaluation based on DAS28CRP revealed that 15 (88.2%) of the 17 patients achieved remission. On the other hand, there were no adverse effects due to dose increment of MTX up to 12 mg/week. These findings suggested that MTX dose increment in concomitant therapy of MTX and ADA is a useful measure for no response cases and loss of response cases.
