Purpose of review: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is the second most commonly identified inflammatory arthropathy in early arthritis clinics. It is a complex multisystem disease involving the skin and joints, but may also present with inflammation of the spine - spondylitis, digits - dactylitis, eyes - uveitis and ligamentous insertions - enthesitis. The skin manifestations may be mild or patchy and often precede the joint inflammation. Joint erosions, however, may occur within the first 2 years in up to half of PsA patients and an erosion rate of 11% per annum has been reported suggesting it is not a benign disease as it was once regarded.
Recent findings: Therapy with mild anti-inflammatories is only beneficial in very mild or localized disease. In cases of more widespread joint involvement systemic therapy with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as methotrexate may be required and in the case of extra-articular or spinal disease, in which DMARDs have failed to show efficacy, biologic therapy may be highly effective.
Summary: The question of how early treatment should be instituted should be decided in a specialist rheumatology referral centre following appropriate assessment. Optimal therapy with combination DMARD and biologics may result in remission rates of up to 60%.