Methotrexate therapy in rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common disease with a significant economic and social impact on Americans. Many patients with RA are unresponsive to or intolerant of conventional therapy or the limited therapeutic options available. For many of those patients, immunosuppressive drugs have been the mainstay of therapy. Our experience with methotrexate for these patients indicates that this drug provides symptomatic relief and improvement in objective parameters. Significant toxicity was uncommon. Methotrexate should be considered for selected patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis when conventional measures have been exhausted.