To assess whether weekly pulse methotrexate therapy alters radiographic progression of joint disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Prospective, controlled study. Hand, wrist and foot roentgenograms obtained before, at the onset of, and during methotrexate treatment were scored for degree of joint-space narrowing and erosions by three rheumatologists using a standard method.
Sequential sample of 24 patients with active definite or classical rheumatoid arthritis and previous unsuccessful treatment; of these, 3 were excluded due to drug ineffectiveness; 2, due to side effects; and 1, due to refusal to take methotrexate.
Treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and prednisone was continued. Methotrexate was given weekly to control clinical evidence of disease in patients.
After having had an average of 30 months of therapy, the 18 patients who continued to receive methotrexate therapy showed significant (p less than 0.05) clinical improvement, as evidenced by their decreased joint counts and joint scores, duration of morning stiffness, pain scales, and sedimentation rates. Despite patients' prolonged clinical improvement, the mean rate of development of erosions and joint-space narrowing during methotrexate therapy was not significantly different from the rate of radiographic progression before methotrexate therapy (0.043 compared with 0.041; p greater than 0.05).
Weekly pulse methotrexate is effective for the long-term management of clinical disease activity in patients with refractory rheumatoid arthritis but may not be a disease-modifying agent by roentgenographic criteria.