Updated consensus statement on biological agents for the treatment of rheumatic diseases, 2006

Choice of second‐line disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs after failure of methotrexate therapy for rheumatoid arthritis: A decision tree for clinical practice based on rheumatologists' preferences

“…The determinants also corresponded to main RA prognostic factors found in the literature (24,25). Structural damage progression strongly predicted the addition of a TNF blocker, which was highly consistent with national and international recommendations for the use of TNF blockers in patients with RA (40,41). Although no specific definition of structural damage progression was given to the respondents, there is somewhat of a consensus in the country to define such a progression as any definite new erosion or joint space narrowing on joint radiographs as assessed by rheumatologists in daily practice (42).…”

“…During the past decades, modern conventional and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have been effective to various extents in controlling RA-related inflammation, preventing disease flare, the progression of structural damage (5)(6)(7)(8)(9), and thus overall improvement in RA prognosis (10). Also related to improved prognosis may be optimization of care through disease management by rheumatology specialists (11) and standardized disease activity monitoring based on RA-specific composite indexes like the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28) (12)(13)(14).…”

TNFα blockade in human diseases: An overview of efficacy and safety

“…Uncommon systemic diseases-TNFα antagonists have been used, anecdotally, with success in patients with refractory cases of Behcet's, rheumatoid vasculitis, Churg Strauss syndrome, Kawasaki's arteritis, Takayasu's arteritis, giant cell arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa, and cryoglobulinemic vasculitis [73].…”

Safety of tumor necrosis factor α blockers in hepatitis B virus occult carriers (hepatitis B surface antigen negative/anti–hepatitis B core antigen positive) with rheumatic diseases

“…Patients have to be screened for the presence of infections before the initiation of treatment, and markers for viral hepatitis B and C should be a part of this assessment because the long-term safety of these drugs in case of chronic hepatitis is not known (2). In the general population, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is frequently detected, and ϳ350 million people worldwide are estimated to be chronic carriers of the virus.…”