Arthritis and rheumatism
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jul 2007
Randomized Controlled TrialSteroid injection for osteoarthritis of the hip: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
To determine the efficacy of fluoroscopically guided corticosteroid injection for hip osteoarthritis (OA) in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. ⋯ This placebo-controlled trial confirms that corticosteroid injection can be an effective treatment of pain in hip OA, with benefits lasting up to 3 months in many cases. Future studies should address questions related to the benefits of repeated steroid injection and the effects of this treatment on disease modification.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Jul 2007
Clinical TrialAutologous stem cell transplantation in children with severe progressive systemic or polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis: long-term follow-up of a prospective clinical trial.
To assess the safety and efficacy of intensive immunosuppression followed by T cell-depleted autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for induction of disease remission in children with refractory progressive juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). ⋯ Intensive immunosuppression followed by ASCT resulted in sustained complete remission or marked improvement in 15 of 22 patients with progressive refractory JIA. The procedure, however, is associated with significant morbidity and risk of mortality due to prolonged and severe depression of T cell immunity. After fatal complications due to MAS were observed in some patients, the protocol was amended in 1999, to ensure less profound depletion of T cells, better control of systemic disease before transplantation, antiviral prophylaxis after transplantation, and slow tapering of corticosteroids. Following these protocol modifications, no additional ASCT-related deaths were observed among the 11 patients who received the modified treatment.