Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an incapacitating chronic inflammatory disease of the joints that, because of frequent relapses, requires life-long treatment. in patients affected with RA an important treatment objective is to achieve specific immune suppression in order to extinguish the immune process and arrest the disease, thus preventing or delaying complications and avoiding disease recurrence. The side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs given to improve the quality of life of these patients can be reduced with the use of specific immune therapies that block, as selectively as possible, the pathologic mechanism responsible for the disease. New therapeutic options for specific, targeted therapies for treating RA are being developed, and trials to assess the efficacy and safety of these approaches are underway. However, these therapies rely primarily on clinical assessment to evaluate treatment efficacy. it would be useful, therefore, to have an objective and reliable method that directly highlights the immune processes underlying the disease. Currently available radiopharmaccuticals for imaging RA, with a special emphasis on recently developed agents and their use in therapy decision-making and follow-up are the focus of this article.
New radiopharmaceuticals for imaging rheumatoid arthritis / M., Chianelli; C., D'Alessandria; Conti, Fabrizio; R., Priori; Valesini, Guido; A., Annovazzi; Signore, Alberto. - In: THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND MOLECULAR IMAGING. - ISSN 1824-4785. - STAMPA. - 50:3(2006), pp. 217-225.
New radiopharmaceuticals for imaging rheumatoid arthritis
CONTI, FABRIZIO;VALESINI, Guido;SIGNORE, Alberto
2006
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an incapacitating chronic inflammatory disease of the joints that, because of frequent relapses, requires life-long treatment. in patients affected with RA an important treatment objective is to achieve specific immune suppression in order to extinguish the immune process and arrest the disease, thus preventing or delaying complications and avoiding disease recurrence. The side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs given to improve the quality of life of these patients can be reduced with the use of specific immune therapies that block, as selectively as possible, the pathologic mechanism responsible for the disease. New therapeutic options for specific, targeted therapies for treating RA are being developed, and trials to assess the efficacy and safety of these approaches are underway. However, these therapies rely primarily on clinical assessment to evaluate treatment efficacy. it would be useful, therefore, to have an objective and reliable method that directly highlights the immune processes underlying the disease. Currently available radiopharmaccuticals for imaging RA, with a special emphasis on recently developed agents and their use in therapy decision-making and follow-up are the focus of this article.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.