2006 Volume 116 Issue 4 Pages 437-441
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) has been recognized as playing a key role in the pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis. Several TNF-α inhibitors, including infliximab, etanercept, and adalimumab, have shown superb efficacy in double blind controlled trials for psoriatic arthritis in the United States and Europe. In this report, we present the first Japanese case of psoriatic arthritis successfully treated with infliximab. A 39-year-old Japanese male presented with a 10 year history of psoriasis and a 3 year history of arthritis. He had suffered from severe pain in the axial and acral joints. His skin presented with erythroderma. We used infliximab (3 mg/kg) in addition to methotrexate, and his pain was superbly alleviated on the next day after the treatment. Finally, he gained improvement of the arthritis within 6 week (ACR70) as well as the skin lesion (PASI score 25.2→2.7). This result suggests that infliximab can be a crucial therapy for psoriatic arthritis.
