A reappraisal of intra-articular corticosteroid therapy in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Intraarticular corticosteroid (IAC) injection is a safe and rapidly effective treatment for synovitis in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). This procedure can be performed in an ambulatory care setting using local anaesthesia, with or without conscious sedation. Younger children, or those candidate to multiple injections, require general anaesthesia. Triamcinolone hexacetonide is the optimal corticosteroid preparation. However, for smaller joints or joints that are not easy to assess clinically, use of a more soluble corticosteroid drug is advised. Imaging guidance may facilitate accurate placement of the needle within the joint space. Use of ultrasound for this purpose has gained increasing popularity in the recent years. IAC injections are used most frequently to treat oligoarthritis, but the strategy of performing multiple IAC injections to induce disease remission, while simultaneously initiating therapy with second-line or biologic agents, has been proposed also for children with polyarticular JIA. However, the current place of IAC therapy in the management of children with JIA is uncertain due to the lack of controlled studies. Furthermore, it is still unknown whether this therapy has a disease-modifying effect over the long-term. This review summarises the present information about the use of IAC therapy in children with JIA.

Impact of involvement of individual joint groups on subdimensions of functional ability scales in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of arthritis in individual joint groups on subdimensions of functional ability questionnaires in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). METHODS: 206 patients were included who had the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (C-HAQ) and the Juvenile Arthritis Functionality Scale (JAFS) completed simultaneously by a parent and received a detailed joint assessment. In each patient, joint involvement (defined as presence of swelling, pain on motion/tenderness and/or restricted motion) was classified in 3 topographic patterns: Pattern 1 (hip, knee, ankle, subtalar and foot joints); Pattern 2 (wrist and hand joints); Pattern 3 (elbow, shoulder, cervical spine and temporomandibular joints). Frequency of reported disability in each instrument subdimension was evaluated for each joint pattern, present either isolatedly or in mixed form. RESULTS: Among patients with Pattern 1, the JAFS revealed the greatest ability to capture and discriminate functional limitation, whereas impairment in the C-HAQ was more diluted across several subdimensions. Both C-HAQ and JAFS appeared to be less reliable in detecting functional impairment in the hand and wrist (Pattern 2) than in other body areas. Overall, the JAFS revealed a superior ability to discriminate the relative functional impact of impairment in individual joint groups among patients with mixed joint patterns. CONCLUSION: In children with JIA, a functional measure focused to assess the function of individual joint groups (the JAFS) may detect with greater precision the functional impact of arthritis in specific body areas than does a standard questionnaire based on the assessment of activities of daily living (the C-HAQ).

Ciclofosfamida (CIC) en lupus eritematoso sistémico (LES): dosis acumulada y eventos adversos: estudio multicéntrico / Cyclophosphamide (CYC) in systemic lupus erythematosus accumulated dose and adverse events: multicentric study

Objetivo: Describir los eventos adversos (EA) asociados a ciclofosfamiday su relación con la dosis acumulada. Material y método: Se revisaron las historias clínicas de pacientes con LES (Criterios ACR) de 6 centros de Reumatología de la Argentina. Se incluyeron 81 pacientes (72 mujeres y 9 hombres) que habían recibido tratamiento con pulsos mensuales de CIC (0,5-1g/m2). Se estudiaron los EA asociados a CIC, dosis acumulada, dosis de corticosteroides y actividad de la enfermedad al momento del evento. Se excluyeron los pacientes con otro tratamiento inmunosupresor. Resultados: La edad de diagnóstico del LES fue x¯ 26 años (DS 11,3); tiempo de evolución de la enfermedad x¯ 6,2 años (DS 5,9). La edad al inicio de CIC fue x¯ 30 años (DS 12,4). Se encontraron 105 eventos adversos asociados a CIC en 53 pacientes (65,4%). Infección (45%) fue el efecto más frecuente, fatal en 6 pacientes; intolerancia gástrica (náuseas y vómitos) en 21% y las citopenias 14,3%. Tres pacientes (2,8%) presentaron amenorrea y sólo una cistitis hemorrágica. No se detectaron neoplasias. La mediana de dosis acumulada al momento del EA fue 2600 mg. Al comparar los pacientes con y sin EA, no se encontraron diferencias significativas en el SLEDAI ni en la dosis de prednisona recibida. No se encontró asociación entre dosis acumulada de CIC y náuseas, vómitos, convulsiones y citopenias (p NS). Al aplicar el modelo de riesgo proporcional para eventos múltiples, el riesgo de infecciones aumentaba a mayor dosis de CIC. Los pacientes que fallecieron por sepsis recibieron una dosis mediana de CIC de 4000 mg. Conclusiones: 1) La dosis acumulada de CIC se asoció a infecciones: mayor dosis, mayor número de infecciones. 2) Náuseas, vómitos, convulsiones y citopenias fueron eventos independientes de la dosis de CIC.