A study of the efficacy of Methotrexate monotherapy v/s Methotrexate in combination with Infliximab in patients of Rheumatoid Arthritis in a rural setup.

Dr Amandeep Singh Kaloti; Dr Anoop Chhabra; Dr E Chandrasekaran

Volume : VII, Issue : III, March - 2018

A study of the efficacy of Methotrexate monotherapy v/s Methotrexate in combination with Infliximab in patients of Rheumatoid Arthritis in a rural setup.

Dr Amandeep Singh Kaloti, Dr Anoop Chhabra, Dr E Chandrasekaran

Abstract :

Aim : To study the efficacy of Methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy v/s Methotrexate in combination with a biological agent, Infliximab in the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

Materials and Methods :–

This was a randomized control trial and the study was conducted over 10 months in the patients attending the OPD and admitted in the wards of S.G.T. Medical College, Budhera, Gurgaon. 50 patients were studied and the inferences made. Out of these, 27 patients received monotherapy with MTX whereas 23 received combination therapy of MTX and the biological agent infliximab.

Results :– In our study the patients receiving the dual therapy with MTX and Infliximab fared better than the patient who received monotheraphy with MTX alone which was also shown by the highly significant p–value (p <0.01) in the patients treated with the combination therapy.

Conclusion: – Our study showed that the patients who are treated with a combination of MTX and infliximab early in the disease fare better. So, the use of biological agents should be preferred early in the RA to prevent the complications an deformities of rheumatoid arthritis from occuring. One of the limiting factors in this regards may be the cost of the biological agent.