Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy (한국임상약학회지)
- Volume 8 Issue 1
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- Pages.1-12
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- 1998
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- 1226-6051(pISSN)
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- 2508-786X(eISSN)
The Comparison Study on the Efficacy of Bucillamine Monotherapy and Bucillamine plus Methotrexate Combination Therapy in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis
류마티스 관절염 환자에서 Bucillamine 단독요법과 Bucillamine과 Methotrexate 병용요법의 치료효과에 대한 비교연구
- Lee, Young Ran (Department of Pharmacy, Hanyang University Medical Center) ;
- Suh, Okkyung (Graduate School of Clinical Pharmacy, Sookmyung Women`s University) ;
- Jung, Sung Soo (The Hospotal for Rheumatic Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine Hanyang University College of Medicine) ;
- Jun, Jae Bum (The Hospotal for Rheumatic Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine Hanyang University College of Medicine) ;
- Yoo, Dae Hyun (The Hospotal for Rheumatic Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine Hanyang University College of Medicine) ;
- Lee, Suk Hyang (Graduate School of Clinical Pharmacy, Sookmyung Women`s University) ;
- Shin, Hyun Taek (Graduate School of Clinical Pharmacy, Sookmyung Women`s University) ;
- Kim, Seong Yoon (The Hospotal for Rheumatic Diseases, Department of Iternal Medicine Hanyang University College of Medicine)
- Published : 1998.05.01
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common systemic inflammatory disease which DMARDS have been widely used as a treatment modality both as monotherapy and combination therapy Bucillamine, one of newer DMARDS, has recently proven its efficacy as monotherapy in the treatment of RA. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and the safety of bucillamine monotherapy and bucillamine plus methotrexate combination therapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Forty-nine mild RA patients were enrolled in this prospective, open-trial and were assigned to receive bucillamine 200 mg/day (n=18) or bucillamine 200 mg/day and methotrexate 7.5-15 mg/week (n=31) orally for 16 weeks. Concomitant use of NSAID and prednisolone <5 mg/day or equivalent dose of steroid were allowed. Both monotherapy group and combination therapy group have shown significant improvement in disease activities (Ritchie index, painful joints, swollen joints, morning stiffness, grip strength, ESR, RF, CRP, patient's self assessment of pain, physician's global assessment of disease activity) from the baseline. However, there was no statistically significant difference between two groups. The adverse effects were more frequently shown in combination therapy group than monotherapy group. In conclusion, in patients with mild RA monotherapy has shown to be equally efficacious as combination therapy with less side effects.