[Revision of the recommendations of the Commission on Pharmacotherapy of the German society for Rheumatology. Therapy with tumour necrosis factor blockers for inflammatory rheumatic illnesses].

Inflammatory rheumatic illnesses are associated with various types of pain as well as handicaps. The so called basic therapies are not sufficiently effective in many patients or are terminated due to side effects. This is where tumor necrosis factor blockers (TNF) can be used. In many cases, they lead to a substantial improvement of the symptoms, a reduction in disease related laboratory parameters, improvement in quality of life to stopping disease related damage when their effect is rapid. Common and severe side effects are few, although long-term data are still limited. The following contribution lists recommendations for the indications and symptomatology for the use of TNF blockers.