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“Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab (TCZ) plus methotrexate/placebo (MTX/PBO) over 2 years and the course of disease activity in patients who discontinued TCZ due to sustained remission. Methods ACT-RAY was a double-blind

find more 3-year trial. Patients with active rheumatoid arthritis despite MTX were randomised to add TCZ to ongoing MTX (add-on strategy) or switch to TCZ plus PBO (switch strategy). Using a treat-to-target approach, open-label conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs), other than MTX, were added from week 24 if Disease Activity Score in 28 joints based on erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) bigger than 3.2. Between weeks 52 and 104, patients in sustained clinical remission (DAS28-ESR smaller than 2.6 at two consecutive visits 12 weeks apart) discontinued TCZ and were assessed every 4 weeks for 1 year. If sustained remission was maintained, FK228 in vivo added csDMARDs, then MTX/PBO, were discontinued. Results Of the 556 randomised patients, 76% completed year 2. Of patients entering year 2, 50.4% discontinued TCZ after achieving sustained remission and 5.9% achieved drug-free remission. Most patients who discontinued TCZ (84.0%) had a subsequent flare, but responded well to TCZ reintroduction. Despite many patients temporarily stopping TCZ, radiographic progression was minimal, with differences favouring add-on treatment.

Rates of serious adverse events and serious infections per 100 patient-years were 12.2 and 4.4 in add-on and 15.0 and 3.7 in switch patients. In patients with normal baseline values, alanine aminotransferase elevations bigger than 3xupper limit of normal were more frequent

in add-on (14.3%) versus switch patients (5.4%). Conclusions Treat-to-target strategies could be successfully implemented with TCZ to achieve sustained remission, after selleck chemicals which TCZ was stopped. Biologic-free remission was maintained for about 3 months, but most patients eventually flared. TCZ restart led to rapid improvement.”
“BACKGROUND: A revised guideline for the diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) was formulated by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) in 2011 to improve disease diagnosis and provide a simplified algorithm for clinicians. The impact of these revisions on patient classification, however, remain unclear. OBJECTIVE: To examine the concordance between diagnostic guidelines to understand how revisions impact patient classification. METHODS: A cohort of 54 patients with either suspected IPF or a working diagnosis of IPF was evaluated in a retrospective chart review, in which patient data were examined according to previous and revised ATS guidelines. Patient characteristics influencing the fulfillment of diagnostic criteria were compared using one-way ANOVA and x(2) tests. RESULTS: Revised and previous guideline criteria for IPF were met in 78% and 83% of patients, respectively.