A preliminary study of etanercept in the treatment of severe, resistant psoriatic arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To survey the effectiveness of etanercept in the treatment of severe, resistant psoriatic arthritis. METHODS: Ten patients coming from the clinical practice of 5 different rheumatologists and already using etanercept (25 mg subcutaneously twice weekly) were formally assessed at 3 and 12 months after etanercept use. RESULTS: All patients had improvement in their arthritis. Five of the 10 patients had no arthritis, 4 required only etanercept for disease control at 3 months. At 12 months, 8 of 10 patients were still on etanercept with continued good response. One patient had to discontinue etanercept due to osteomyelitis, and one due to increased disease activity. Of 4 patients with active skin disease, 3 had complete clearing. There were no side effects related to etanercept in this small, heterogeneously collected group of patients. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary and rather favorable experience with etanercept suggests that properly controlled trials of this agent in psoriatic arthritis are needed.