[Treatment of psoriatic arthritis with gold salts (chrysotherapy)]

The paper is concerned with the results of a 6- and 12-month comparative randomized study of the efficacy of chrysanol (calcium-aurothiopropanol-sulfonate) in 21 patients with verified psoriatic arthritis. Patients of the study group (11 patients) received in addition to chrysanol nonsteroid antiinflammatory drugs (NAD), patients of the control group (10) received NAD only. The efficacy of annual treatment was assessed in 10 patients (5 in each group). Therapeutic efficacy was assessed on the basis of an analysis of 19 clinical and laboratory findings. Six months later improvement was noted in 80% of the patients of the study group, of them considerable improvement in 30%. A significant positive time course was observed for 9 parameters including those characterizing vertebral mobility. Improvement in the control group was noted in 50% of the patients, 2 parameters changed significantly. One year later improvement was recorded in all the patients of the study group and in 40% of the patients of the control group. A significant positive time course was noted for 10 parameters in the study group and not a single one in the control group. In the latter group 7 values got worse, the deterioration of one value was statistically significant. Side effects of chrysanol were noted in 2 patients (agranulocytosis and nephropathy). The aggravation of skin psoriasis was not noted in any patients.