Drugs for Rheumatoid Arthritis p. 37
Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs)
are now used early in the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis (RA) to achieve clinical remission, prevent
irreversible damage to joints, and minimize toxicity
associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
(NSAIDs) and corticosteroids. DMARDs (Table 1)
generally do not have an immediate analgesic effect,
but over time can control symptoms and have been
shown to delay and possibly stop progression of the
disease. NSAIDs have immediate analgesic and antiinflammatory
effects, but may not affect the disease
process. Oral corticosteroids can relieve joint symptoms
and control systemic manifestations, but their
chronic use can cause many complications. Judicious
use of intra-articular corticosteroids can rapidly
decrease inflammation in acute joints with few, if any,
adverse effects.
