The advent of TNFa antagonists marked the entry into the era of biotherapies for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory joint diseases. Now, other biologic agents are available for treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis who failed? TNFa antagonist therapy.

The CRI (Club Rhumatismes et Inflammation) issued a clinical tool guide on the use of TNFa antagonists in May 2005 then updated them in December 2006. This guide was extremely well received andoften serves as points of reference for rheumatologists who prescribe and monitor TNFa antagonist therapy.

Under the aegis of the CRI, the group that wrote the initial guide worked with a number of additional contributors to develop fact sheets on prescribing and monitoring rituximab Rituximab therapy in patients who have rheumatoid arthritis or systemic diseases.

As previously, we focused on everyday practice by addressing the various situations that may arise before rituximab therapy or during follow-up. A colour code is used to ensure ready differentiation of material supported by evidence from the literature (red), official recommendations (green), and expert opinion (black).

A huge amount of energy has gone into developing these fact sheets, and we are deeply grateful to the contributors for their effort and expertise. This interactive document will be available on the CRI site (http://www.cri-net.com) and published in print form in a special issue of Joint Bone Spine.

Please feel free to provide feedback about these fact sheets. Your input will help us improve them when we conduct the update scheduled for 2009.

Avec l'aimable concours et l'autorisation de la Revue du Rhumatisme et de sa version en langue anglaise Joint Bone Spine

Xavier MARIETTE, Thao PHAM, Jean SIBILIA, who were the expert-panel coordinators.

• Contents
  

  Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

  1. Initiation of rituximab therapy, follow-up, and re-treatment - june 2008
     • Pre-treatment assessment
     • Initial rituximab treatment in RA; clinical, laboratory, and radiological monitoring
     • Rituximab re-treatment in patients with RA
     • Main symptoms to monitor during rituximab therapy and diagnostic orientation
  2. Diseases:
     management in patients who have a past or present history of... - june 2008
     • Bacterial or viral infections
     • Solid cancer
     • Lymphoma or other haematological disorders
     • Cardiovascular disease
     • Central nervous system disease
     • Infusion-related reactions (immediate or delayed)
  3. Clinical situations: management in the event of... - june 2008
     • Pregnancy
     • Vaccination
     • Travel
     • Surgery
     • Corticosteroid therapy
     • Drug-drug interactions
  4. Model letters for informing... - june 2008
     • The office-based rheumatologist
     • The primary-care physician
  5. Patient information documents - june 2008
     • Patients with rheumatoid arthritis
  
  

  Autoimmune diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis

  1. Using rituximab in autoimmune diseases other than RA - june 2008
     • Systemic lupus erythematosus
     • Systemic vasculitides
  2. Patient information document - june 2008
     • Patients with autoimmune diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis

Members of the CRI panel:
Dr Thao PHAM⁽¹⁾, Pr Bruno FAUTREL⁽²⁾, Dr Jacques-Eric GOTTENBERG⁽³⁾, Pr Philippe GOUPILLE⁽⁴⁾, Pr Eric HACHULLA⁽⁵⁾, Dr Charles MASSON⁽⁶⁾, Dr Jacques MOREL⁽⁷⁾, Pr Luc MOUTHON⁽⁸⁾, Pr Alain SARAUX⁽⁹⁾, Pr Thierry SCHAEVERBEKE⁽¹⁰⁾, Pr Daniel WENDLING⁽¹¹⁾, Pr Xavier MARIETTE⁽¹²⁾, Pr Jean SIBILIA⁽¹³⁾,
ont perçu des honoraires de l’agence Katana Santé pour l’élaboration de ces fiches.

(1) Service de Rhumatologie Sud, CHU Conception, Marseille. (2) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Pitié-Salpétrière, Paris. (3) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Bicêtre, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre. (4) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Trousseau, Tours. (5) Service Médecine Interne, Hôpital Roger Salengro, Lille. (6) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Angers, Angers. (7) Service d’Immuno-Rhumatologie, CHU Lapeyronie, Montpellier. (8) Service de Médecine Interne, CHU Cochin, Paris. (9) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Cavale-Blanche, Brest. (10) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Pellegrin, Bordeaux. (11) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Jean Minjoz, Besanàon. (12) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Bicêtre, Le Kremlin Bicêtre. (13) Service de Rhumatologie, CHU Hautepierre, Strasbourg.