Abstract
Objective: It is known that biologic agents inhibit the progression of joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). For this reason, these agents have recently been used for the treatment of RA. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of orthopedic surgery in RA patients treated with biologic agents.
Methods: Two hundreds and twenty-nine surgeries were performed and evaluated on RA patients treated with the following biologic agents: infliximab (49), etanercept (130), adalimumab (25), tocilizumab (19), and ABT (6). All patients underwent orthopedic surgery from 2003 to 2012, inclusive. The mean age at operation was 57 years old.
Results: At the time of follow-up, there was one deep infection and four wounds with delayed healing related to the biologic agents. In spite of the observed minor complications, the postoperative clinical course of these patients was good, and the results of the surgeries were excellent.
Conclusion: Orthopedic surgery in patients with RA treated with biologic agents is considered to be safe with an acceptable infection complication rate and excellent surgical outcome.
