The therapy with cyclosporin A in rheumatoid arthritis.

Cyclosporin A (CyA) was administered in 6 cases of classical or definite, seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA), stages II or III, resistant to the antiinflammatory or nonsteroid therapy, or dependent on high Prednisone doses. An intramuscular daily dose of 1.5 g CyA for a three-week period had good clinical and biologic results. The first signs of improvement, occurring after 14 days of therapy, were manifested by a reduction of the articular inflammation, increase in amplitude of the articular mobility, decrease of the morning stiffness and lowering of the ESR rate. The short-term application of this treatment permits the reintroduction of the nonsteroid drugs and a lowering of the daily dose of Prednisone.