Arthritis and rheumatism
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Feb 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical TrialEfficacy and safety profile of treatment with etoricoxib 120 mg once daily compared with indomethacin 50 mg three times daily in acute gout: a randomized controlled trial.
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of etoricoxib and indomethacin in the treatment of patients with acute gout. ⋯ Etoricoxib at a dosage of 120 mg once daily was confirmed to be an effective treatment for acute gout. Etoricoxib was comparable in efficacy to indomethacin at a dosage of 50 mg 3 times daily, and it was generally safe and well tolerated.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Feb 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDose escalation of parenteral methotrexate in active rheumatoid arthritis that has been unresponsive to conventional doses of methotrexate: a randomized, controlled trial.
To examine whether dose escalation of intramuscular (IM) methotrexate (MTX) up to 45 mg/week improves disease control in patients who have active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) despite receiving conventional doses (15 mg/week) of IM MTX, and to obtain preliminary data on patient tolerability and adverse effects of higher doses of IM MTX. ⋯ Switching from oral to parenteral MTX 15 mg/week results in a minor improvement in disease control. For patients with active RA receiving 15 mg/week IM MTX, increasing the dose up to 45 mg/week does not improve disease control. Higher doses of IM MTX were generally well tolerated and not associated with an increase in serious adverse reactions to the drug.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Feb 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialOnce-weekly administration of 50 mg etanercept in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: results of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
To evaluate the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of 50 mg etanercept administered subcutaneously once weekly in adult patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ⋯ Safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics were comparable between the 2 etanercept dosing regimens. Thus, comparable clinical outcomes are to be expected when patients are treated with etanercept administered either as 50 mg once weekly or as 25 mg twice weekly.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Feb 2004
Evidence of augmented central pain processing in idiopathic chronic low back pain.
For many individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP), there is no identifiable cause. In other idiopathic chronic pain conditions, sensory testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have identified the occurrence of generalized increased pain sensitivity, hyperalgesia, and altered brain processing, suggesting central augmentation of pain processing in such conditions. We compared the results of both of these methods as applied to patients with idiopathic CLBP (n = 11), patients with widespread pain (fibromyalgia; n = 16), and healthy control subjects (n = 11). ⋯ At equal levels of pressure, patients with CLBP or fibromyalgia experienced significantly more pain and showed more extensive, common patterns of neuronal activation in pain-related cortical areas. When stimuli that elicited equally painful responses were applied (requiring significantly lower pressure in both patient groups as compared with the control group), neuronal activations were similar among the 3 groups. These findings are consistent with the occurrence of augmented central pain processing in patients with idiopathic CLBP.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Feb 2004
Association of radiographic hand osteoarthritis with radiographic knee osteoarthritis after meniscectomy.
To evaluate the association between radiographic hand osteoarthritis (OA), a disease with marked heredity, and radiographic knee OA in patients treated with meniscectomy. ⋯ The presence of radiographic hand OA is associated with an increased frequency of radiographic knee OA after meniscectomy. This finding confirms and extends that of a single previous study showing an interaction between hereditary and environmental risk factors for OA, a common and genetically complex disease. Accordingly, the development of OA following a meniscal tear and the resulting meniscal surgery should not be regarded to be of secondary origin only.