Yorkshire patients in arthritis care trials

The 515,000 project funded by Arthritis Research UK will examine giving people with psoriatic arthritis early intensive treatment with latest drug therapies in an effort to reduce joint damage and prevent disability.

The condition affects the joints and the skin, causing joint pain and swelling, leading to joint damage and disability over time.

A team based at Chapel Allerton Hospital in Leeds will run a three-year trial involving up to 200 patients in Leeds, Bradford and York.

They will compare intensive early treatment with the kind

of care that patients usually receive to find out which group of patients does better over a year.

Their progress will be measured by sophisticated imaging techniques including ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging.

Senior lecturer Philip Helliwell at the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine at Leeds University, said: "We think that a tighter, more aggressive treatment of psoriatic arthritis, in which patients are given escalating dosages of drugs if their condition is not responding, and see a specialist every month with the aim of controlling their symptoms fully and as soon as possible, will result in a good outcome after 12 months.

"The standard treatment is to see a specialist maybe every three or months, with less emphasis on early, escalating treatment."

He said early evidence suggested the approach was working at least in terms of patient and doctor satisfaction.