title: Twenty years of experience with intra-articular rifamycin for chronic arthritides.
abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic progressive disease causing substantial morbidity and mortality for which current treatments are largely unsatisfactory. Over the past 20 years we have developed a novel therapeutic approach based on the intra-articular administration of rifamycin. The published studies on rifamycin therapy of rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic arthritic disorders, mainly from our group, are reviewed. Our results indicate that intra-articular rifamycin is effective against active synovitis and can profitably be combined with any basic therapy with slow-acting antirheumatic drugs. There is good evidence that the development of new erosions can be prevented or delayed by this treatment and that the balance between side-effects (mainly local pain) and antiarthritic activity is very favourable in the long term. Our observations have led us to hypothesize a possible systemic effect of rifamycin injected multilocally in peripheral joints; we believe that the available data deserve further investigation by independent researchers.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Unit, L. Sacco Hospital, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Caruso
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007270:Injections, Intra-Articular; D007719:Knee Joint; D012294:Rifamycins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D012294:Rifamycins