Conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for axial spondyloarthritis

Chen, 2014Chen, 2013Steiman, 2013

Conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) may be effective for peripheral arthritis but should not be used to treat spondylitis because they have no effect on axial inflammation. Since spondylitis is the predominant symptom of axial spondyloarthritis, csDMARDs are rarely required. They may be used by specialists in the small number of people with predominantly peripheral arthritis, or an associated comorbidity such as inflammatory bowel disease or psoriasis.