[New perspectives in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis]

The medical treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), is currently going through deep changes, stimulated by the findings that the usual sequential fashion of administering different drugs does not stop the course of the disease and that erosions develop even in the first year. Combination therapy, including immunosuppressants, are advocated early in the course of RA. The use of potent and potentially dangerous drugs should be given to the patients who are more likely to develop a more severe disease. Clinical and laboratory markers of severity might guide the treatment of these patients.