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New rheumatoid arthritis treatment hailed

Doctors specializing in arthritic diseases announced yesterday a more advanced treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and a way to diagnose the disease at an earlier stage, increasing the controllability of the disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease characterized by chronic joint inflammation that eventually results in bone destruction and severe disability. Diagnosis usually depends on the clinical manifestations of the disease.

However, a diagnostic test, an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), was recently developed which allows detection of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP), an important indicator of rheumatoid arthritis, at a pre-clinical stage.

"Early treatment is crucial. The golden period for treatment is the first two to three years from the onset of the disease," said Dr. Chou Chung-tei (周昌得), who works in the Allergy-Immunology-Rheumatology section of Taipei Veterans General Hospital.

Chou said the test was disease specific, meaning that it can differentiate between rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, which is important for treatment.

Chou said that research has shown that Etanercept -- an injectable serum -- when used in conjunction with traditional treatments, decreases the presence of anti-CCP and rheumatoid factor, in patients, more significantly than traditional treatments.

However, "it can only be used to control the disease, not cure it," Chou said.

Speaking of her experience of using Etanercept, a woman with rheumatoid arthritis who was invited to the conference said, "I have gone from not being able to walk to being able to being able to return to my favorite hobby, shopping."

Under the National Health Insurance program, people with rheumatoid arthritis who want to use Etanercept must first to spend six months on traditional treatments, which include steroids.

Only if those treatments don't work will patients be able to apply to use Etanercept. If permission is granted, the applicant will be able to use Etanercept for six months. After that, he or she must reapply every three months to continue treatment.
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