Literature on Psoriatic Arthritis

Related ArticlesWhen there is no single best biological agent: psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in the same patient responding to two different biological agents.

Clin Exp Dermatol. 2008 Mar;33(2):164-6

Authors: Adişen E, Karaca F, Gürer MA

Guidelines and treatment strategies for the new biological agents have been developed, but dermatologists continue to face difficulties in adopting these guidelines into their daily practices. We report a patient with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis whose skin lesions responded only to efalizumab, and the arthritis to etanercept. This case shows that different biological agents may achieve different success rates even in the same patient. Each biological agent offers different advantages and disadvantages, which sometimes make it difficult to choose the single best agent for a patient. Psoriasis often becomes one of the most difficult diseases to treat and does not respond to any single antipsoriatic agent. Perhaps in the future, rotational or combination treatment with different biological treatments will be used.

PMID: 18257837 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Detection of subclinical joint involvement in psoriasis with bone scintigraphy and its response to oral methotrexate.

Clin Exp Dermatol. 2007 Dec 10;

Authors: Raza N, Hameed A, Ali MK

Subclinical joint involvement in psoriasis has been found with bone scintigraphy. In this study, 35 of 50 (70%) patients with psoriasis without clinical arthropathy had joint involvement on bone scintigraphy. Patients with positive bone scans were started on oral methotrexate, and 20 patients who completed treatment had repeat bone scintigraphy. Of the 20 patients, the post-treatment bone scans found that 12 (60%) had involvement of different sets of joints, 1 (5%) had no change and 7 (35%) patients had fewer joints involved. We suggest that subclinical joint involvement in psoriasis can be detected with bone scintigraphy, and that it is fleeting in nature. A certain degree of treatment-induced regression of joint involvement on bone scintigraphy may be possible.

PMID: 18076689 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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