[Perioperative use of biologicals in rheumatoid arthritis]

The high prevalence of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with biologics and the high proportion of RA patients requiring elective orthopaedic surgery indicates that the question of whether to continue or to interrupt biologic therapy in the context of a surgical procedure is a clinically relevant problem. Few data are available and the quality of the studies performed is somewhat limited. Thus, a straightforward recommendation on how this problem should be handled cannot be given on this basis. Therefore, individualized management based on risk stratification for postoperative complications seems currently to be the best solution.