Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a complex and destructive inflammatory disease.
Despite recent impressive advances in disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and biologic therapies, treatment is not always effective and still has many safety ramifications. Assessment of RA, once dependent on X-ray measurement of cartilage and bone destruction, has also experienced dramatic gains with the use of magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound. Still, accurate early detection and monitoring of short-term changes in simultaneous joints remains elusive.
To further improve the delivery of both drugs and imaging agents for the treatment of RA, researchers are increasingly focusing on the inflamed tissue that leads to joint destruction!Xthe synovium. In the April 2006 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, noted rheumatology specialists with Kings College London, Dr. Toby Garrood and Dr. Costantino Pitzalis offer an overview of recent breakthroughs and a preview of future directions in this critical quest for specificity.
Among important and promising research, the authors discuss: