For the analysis of long-term dose, 45 rheumatoid patients who received D-penicillamine more than one year and 6 months were evaluated.
Retrospectively, these were devided into two groups, one with effective maintenance and the other with the tendency of recurrence.
In 19 of 45 patients, the therapeutic effect of D-penicillamine diminished within one year and 6 months.
In the group with transient improvement, the improvement of LFT and Warrer-Rose reaction was slow and turned to get worse at about one year.
The adverse reactions appeared in 53.3% of 45 patients. The protein-uria was most serious. One of 7 patients with protein-uric developed nephrotic syndrome, and heavy protein-uria persisted in 3 patients.
