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A multicentre trial of bucillamine in the treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis (SNOW study)

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Modern Rheumatology

An Erratum to this article was published on 19 April 2011

Abstract

In this study, we enrolled early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients at multiple institutes who fulfilled the American Rheumatism Association 1987 revised criteria for the classification of RA, and followed the clinical results of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) treatment prospectively. With the aim of developing therapeutic guidelines using the disease activity score 28 (DAS28) as disease indices, we investigated the usefulness of bucillamine (BUC), one of the most widely used DMARDs in Japan. Eighty-one patients with early RA who had not previously been treated with DMARDs were suitable for BUC therapy as first-choice treatment. After 24 months of treatment, at least moderate improvement was seen in 87.5% of patients using the DAS28 erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). After 24 months of BUC therapy, 7 patients (43.8%) met the remission criterion of DAS28 (ESR) <2.6. The 24-month BUC continuation rate was 60.5% (49/81, monotherapy + combination therapy), of which 59.2% (29/49) were on BUC monotherapy. From the efficacy and safety viewpoints alike, BUC was useful as first-choice treatment for early RA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sagawa Akira Rheumatology Clinic, Sapporo Excellent Building 5F, North-1, West-7, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, 060-0001, Japan

    Akira Sagawa

  2. Tomakomai City Hospital, 1-5-20 Shimizu-cho, Tomakomai, 053-8567, Japan

    Atsushi Fujisaku

  3. Ohnishi Clinic Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, 5-4-6 Atsubetsuchuo-2, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo, 004-0052, Japan

    Katsunori Ohnishi

  4. Sapporo City General Hospital, North-11, West-13-1-1, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, 060-8604, Japan

    Masaya Mukai

  5. Yamanotedori Yagi Hospital, 5-1-35 Nishino-3, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, 063-0033, Japan

    Izumi Yasuda

  6. KKR Sapporo Medical Center, 6-3-40 Hiragishi-1, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, 062-0931, Japan

    Yoshiharu Amasaki

  7. Hokkaido Medical Center for Rheumatic Diseases, 3-1-45 Kotoni-1, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, 063-0811, Japan

    Masato Shimizu

  8. Hokkaido Medical Center, 7-1-1 Yamanote-5, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, 063-0005, Japan

    Kenji Ichikawa

  9. Ohsaki Clinic, 9-6-21 Shinkotoni-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 001-0907, Japan

    Hirofumi Ohsaki

Authors
  1. Akira Sagawa
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  2. Atsushi Fujisaku
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  3. Katsunori Ohnishi
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  4. Masaya Mukai
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  5. Izumi Yasuda
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  6. Yoshiharu Amasaki
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  7. Masato Shimizu
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  8. Kenji Ichikawa
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  9. Hirofumi Ohsaki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akira Sagawa.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10165-011-0452-5

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Sagawa, A., Fujisaku, A., Ohnishi, K. et al. A multicentre trial of bucillamine in the treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis (SNOW study). Mod Rheumatol 21, 251–257 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10165-010-0385-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10165-010-0385-4

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