Effects of Double Filtration Plasmapheresis, Leflunomide, and Methotrexate on Inflammatory Changes Found Through Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) in combination with leflunomide and methotrexate (MTX) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-detected inflammatory changes (synovitis and bone edema) in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with high disease activity. METHODS: Sixty RA patients with highly active disease of 6 months' to 3 years' duration were randomized to receive DFPP in combination with leflunomide and MTX (DFPP group), and leflunomide plus MTX (no-DFPP group). The primary endpoint was the improvement in MRI-detected synovitis from baseline over 6 months. Secondary endpoint variables included DAS28 remission and American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria responses for 6 consecutive months. RESULTS: The study achieved significant improvement in synovitis and bone edema, with significantly lower synovitis and bone edema scores in the DFPP group compared with the no-DFPP group (p < 0.001). Synovitis scores in 48.39% of patients (15/31) in the DFPP group were 0 at Month 6. Bone edema scores in 32.26% of patients (10/31) in the DFPP group were 0 at Month 6. We observed significantly greater ACR20, ACR50, ACR70, and ACR90 responses and DAS28 remission rates in the DFPP group than in the no-DFPP group (p < 0.001). Sustained DAS28 remission and ACR90 response for at least 6 months were achieved in 100% of patients receiving DFPP therapy. CONCLUSION: The combination of DFPP and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) was superior to DMARD alone for reducing MRI-detected signs of synovitis and bone edema in patients with early highly active RA. DFPP therapy enabled rapid and more complete suppression of inflammation in patients with highly active RA. Nearly half the patients (48.39%) who had received DFPP therapy achieved both clinical remission and imaging remission, a state characterized as true remission.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".