Anti tumor necrosis factor therapy of ankylosing spondylitis in clinical practice

Purpose: the aim of this study was to analize ankylosing spondylitis (as) patients who were using tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-α) blocking agents and present the data on the efficacy and safety of this treatment in clinical practice. materials and methods: as patients using tnf-α blockers for at least six months were included in this retrospective study. regular clinical observations were used to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the anti-tnf-α drugs. adverse events were recorded. reasons for discontinuation of treatment were also closely followed-up. all the patients had a baseline comprehensive rheumatologic assessment and were repeatedly monitored every three months in the routine clinic practice for as spesific disease indexes as well as laboratory tests. results: a total of 41 patients with as were reviewed of whom 26 were male and 15 were female, with a mean age of 43.22 years. the number of as patients who were treated with etanercept was 18 (43.9%), adalimumab was 15 (36.6%), golimumab was 3 (7.3%) and finally infliximab was 5 (12.2%). mean duration of the tnf-α bloker usage for as patients was 39.56 months. 7 of the 11 (26.8%) as patients who did not respond to the first anti-tnf-α therapy were switched to another anti-tnf-α agent. on the other hand 4 as patients gave up anti- tnf-α therapy. as spesific disease index scores and laboratory tests improved at the third and the sixth months when compared with the scores at the initiation of the tnf-α bloker therapy. conclusion: follow-up of patients with as in our clinical setting showed that anti-tnf therapy is an effective and safe way of treatment with good adherence rates.