Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Feb 2013
ReviewTherapeutic inhibition of tyrosine kinases in systemic sclerosis: a review of published experience on the first 108 patients treated with imatinib.
Experimental and clinical evidence suggest a therapeutic role for the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib in fibrosing conditions. We evaluated published data on the safety and efficacy of imatinib for patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a severe autoimmune disease with significant morbidity and mortality. ⋯ The limited available experience suggests that imatinib could be considered as an individualized treatment approach in severe SSc and underscores the need to identify markers for selecting particular patients, who will safely respond to therapeutic inhibition of tyrosine kinases.
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Feb 2013
ReviewBarriers to participant retention in knee osteoarthritis clinical trials: a systematic review.
We investigated the reasons and rates of attrition in knee osteoarthritis trials through a systematic review of randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trials. ⋯ Our findings not only support the importance of the intention-to-treat analysis, but also suggest the possibility of controlling the attrition at the study level.