title: Treatment of psoriatic arthritis with granulocyte and monocyte adsorption apheresis.
abstract: Granulocyte and monocyte adsorption apheresis (GCAP) is a new extracorporeal apheresis treatment modality that removes pathogenic granulocytes. Recently, we found that GCAP is useful for treating pyoderma gangrenosum and pustular psoriasis. We thought that this treatment may also be effective for treating other disorders attributable to activated granulocytes and studied the efficacy of GCAP in 4 patients with psoriatic arthritis. Treatment with GCAP resulted in remarkable clearing of joint pain, suggesting that GCAP is valuable for treating arthritis as well as skin disorders. We present a detailed description of these patients and this novel therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Faculty of Medicine, Kogoshima, Japan. takurok@m2.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanekura
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawabata
authors.forename: Ikuro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.forename: Tamotsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanzaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015535:Arthritis, Psoriatic / Q000628:therapy*; D001781:Blood Component Removal; D005260:Female; D006098:Granulocytes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009000:Monocytes; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D059408:Pain Management; D016896:Treatment Outcome