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Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) used to be considered a mild disease, but the development of erosive and deforming arthritis has been shown in a large proportion of patients.1
Disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) often do not achieve a satisfactory control of articular symptoms and there is no evidence of their effect on the progression of joint damage.2 Tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) has a role in the pathogenesis of PsA,3 and there are some encouraging reports about the efficacy of TNFα neutralising agents for the treatment of the spondyloarthropathies, including PsA.4–8
METHODS AND RESULTS
We evaluated in an open label, six month pilot study the safety and efficacy of infliximab in association with methotrexate (MTX) in 12 patients with PsA resistant to conventional DMARD treatment.
Patients were considered eligible for the study if they fulfilled all of the following criteria: (a) diagnosis of psoriasis confirmed by a dermatologist; (b) diagnosis of spondyloarthropathy according to the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group criteria9; (c) active disease …