OBJECTIVES The objectives were to assess (a) the comparative merits of commonly used disease modifying drugs in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and (b) the influence of age, gender, and disease duration on the outcome of treatment. METHODS Collected analysis (meta-analysis) was performed on results obtained during the first year of treatment in 1140 patients with RA treated with go...

A patient with chronic mild ulcerative colitis is described. Her illness was characterized by fluctuating blood eosinophilia, chronic persistent hepatitis and hypersensitivity to sulphasalazine. She subsequently developed auto-immune thyroid disease. The inter-relationships of these various disorders are discussed.

To evaluate the optimum dose of olsalazine for maintaining remission in ulcerative colitis, 198 patients in remission for more than three months were randomly assigned to receive 0.5 g, 1.0 g, or 2.0 g/day for 12 months. A dose-ranging effect was detected in the per protocol analysis, with remission rates of 60% (0.5 g), 70% (1.0 g), and 78% (2.0 g) (p=0.03, trend in proportions). The higher do...

Sulphasalazine-induced Raynaud's phenomenon is reported in a patient who showed no other features of a drug-induced lupus syndrome. The vascular disturbance disappeared when the drug was withdrawn on 3 occasions. A simple technique for assessing the circulatory abnormality in Raynaud's phenomenon is described.

Drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS syndrome) is a rare and severe drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome characterized by haematological abnormalities (hypereosinophilia and/or mononucleosis) and multiorgan involvement. Renal failure has been rarely described. We report the case of a 77-year-old female with sulphasalazine-induced DRESS syndrome who improved rapidly on cort...

About one fifth of cases with Crohn’s disease (CD) are diagnosed in people less than 18 years. Although most of pediatric patients present with inflammatory behaviour, penetrating CD is increasingly seen. We report a case of an adolescent female, whose main complain was abdominal pain and who was diagnosed with ileal fistula and abscess. Even if surgery was initially planned, she has been treat...