Should Patients Under Long-term Anti-TNF Therapies be Followed for Tuberculosis Contamination?

Should patients under long-term anti-TNF therapies be followed for tuberculosis contamination?

Inhibiting tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) has emerged as an effective therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) but an increased risk to develop reactivation of latent tuberculosis (TB) was observed soon after its introduction. Hence, exclusion of active TB and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) have become clinically imperative prior to starting anti-TNF treatment. Patie...

Long-term outcome of endopyelotomy for the treatment of ureteropelvic junction obstruction: how long should patients be followed up?

PURPOSE To evaluate the long-term success rate of endopyelotomy for the treatment of ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) obstruction. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between January 1995 and December 2003, 85 endopyelotomies (10 percutaneous, 75 retrograde) were performed in 77 patients with a mean age of 35.2 +/- 13.9 years. The mean number of procedures per patient was 1.14, with 69 patients undergoing a sin...

Anti-TNF therapy and the spondyloarthritides: who should be treated?

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2002; 20 (Suppl. 28): S187. © Copyright CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RHEUMATOLOGY 2002. H aving read the pap e rs published in this supplement it becomes clear that we need guidelines for the therapy of s p o n dy l o a rt h ritides (SpA) with antiTNF agents. This is especially true for ankylosing spondylitis (AS), the most frequent subset with the most severe outcome. In the ab...

how should we manage latent tuberculosis infection in patients receiving anti-tnf-α drugs: literature review

conclusions special high-risk groups, including patients with ltbi, should be treated before receiving tnf-α inhibitors. the tuberculin skin test (tst) is a somewhat cost-effective test for the diagnosis of ltbi. however, its usefulness with respect to false results should be re-evaluated in this situation. results there were somewhat different approaches proposed by various researchers regardi...

Complications of anti-TNF therapies