Radiographic remission in seropositive rheumatoid arthritis. A 20-year follow-up study

Objective Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is in most instances a progressive dise ase. Very little information is available on halting of the radiographic da mage, particularly in later phases of the disease. We studied radiographic remission of RA lasting to the end of follow-up, covering the period 1973-9 6. Methods Radiographs of hands and feet were taken at onset and at 1, 3, 8, 1 5 and 20 years from entry in 102 cases of recent onset (<6 months) seroposi tive and erosive RA. A Larsen score of 0-100 was formed for 20 joints of ha nds and feet. If the score did not worsen by more than one point between on e of the above time points and the end of the study, the patient was consid ered to be in remission. Results Remission was confirmed in 27 (26%) of the patients. In 3 cases the remission was from the 1-year check-up, in 5 from the 3-year check-up, in 6 from the 8-year check-up and in 13 cases from the 15-year check-up. Some of the remission cases had a mild disease from the outset, but there were c ases in which the disease process had led to marked joint destruction befor e slowing down. Conclusion This data may serve as a basis for comparison with subsequent co hort studies on new treatments-of-choice.