Current Status and Future Challenges in the Treatment of Rheumatic Diseases

Abstract

The strategic approach is probably as important as the incorporation of new drugs and their new mechanism of action. The strategic approach to rheumatic disease includes early diagnosis and early treatment, remission as the main objective of treatment, frequent assessment of disease activity using validated measurements tools, adjustment of treatment when the objective is not achieved (called treat to target strategy), and finally, shared therapeutic decisions with the patients. Each one of these strategic points are not only intuitively appealing, but also based on good evidence.