Thursday, September 24, 2009

Methotrexate juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

With the increasing availability of more effective medicines and their use early in the course of disease, choice of therapy for JRA has become an even more important clinical issue that it was in the past. Methotrexate is the most commonly used second-line therapy for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis with approximately 60percentshowing a favorable response. Glass, MD, is the Principal Investigator for the Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center and the Genome Project. None of the children taking either dose of methotrexate had severe side effects. Patients treated with a low-dose of methotrexate had a significant reduction in the number of joints in pain during movement and the severity of pain, compared to patients who received a placebo. Of 114 children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, 38 were treated with 10 milligrams of oral methotrexate per square meter of body-surface area per week, and 39 received a placebo, an inactive substance. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that causes inflammation of the joints, and other symptoms such as a rash and fever. Low doses of methotrexate may be an effective and safe treatment for children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Etanercept is a form of the tumor necrosis factor receptor that blocks the activity of TNF. Subcutaneous injections of etanercept may be more effective than methotrexate in relieving the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study of 632 people.