An article published in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy discusses the advances made in understanding and treatment of the spondyloarthropathies over the past 10 years.

"The clinical progress includes the development of classification criteria, strategies for early diagnosis, definition of outcome criteria for clinical studies, and the conduction of a series of clinical studies with a focus on tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers," the article states.

The article concludes, "Although major progress has been achieved in SpA over the last 10 years, there is still a long way to go to find a curative treatment that results in drug-free long-lasting remission." The authors suggest that, "In the short term, how patients with early SpA should be treated with the highly effective TNF blockers," and state that, "whether continuous remission can be achieved if patients are treated very early are questions that have to be investigated."

To read the extensive abstract of the paper, please click here. http://arthritis-research.com/content/11/1/208

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