title: A reappraisal of intra-articular corticosteroid therapy in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
abstract: Intraarticular corticosteroid (IAC) injection is a safe and rapidly effective treatment for synovitis in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). This procedure can be performed in an ambulatory care setting using local anaesthesia, with or without conscious sedation. Younger children, or those candidate to multiple injections, require general anaesthesia. Triamcinolone hexacetonide is the optimal corticosteroid preparation. However, for smaller joints or joints that are not easy to assess clinically, use of a more soluble corticosteroid drug is advised. Imaging guidance may facilitate accurate placement of the needle within the joint space. Use of ultrasound for this purpose has gained increasing popularity in the recent years. IAC injections are used most frequently to treat oligoarthritis, but the strategy of performing multiple IAC injections to induce disease remission, while simultaneously initiating therapy with second-line or biologic agents, has been proposed also for children with polyarticular JIA. However, the current place of IAC therapy in the management of children with JIA is uncertain due to the lack of controlled studies. Furthermore, it is still unknown whether this therapy has a disease-modifying effect over the long-term. This review summarises the present information about the use of IAC therapy in children with JIA.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico G. Gaslini, Genova, Italy, and 2School of Adolescent and Child Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa. christiaanscott@gmail.com
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meiorin
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Filocamo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lanni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martinoli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ravelli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D007270:Injections, Intra-Articular; D008297:Male; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D005938:Glucocorticoids