[The concept of basic therapy of chronic polyarthritis with D-penicillamine: clinical experiences over 10 years].

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic lifelong disease, facts which must be considered when concepts of therapy are developed. This paper reports retrospectively analyzed results of long-term therapy using D-penicillamine. One-hundred-sixteen patients were selected for critical analysis from among 257 treated patients. Judgment was made according to the parameters: inflammation activity, radiological progression, remission rate, clinical outcome-measurement. The results show that the clinical course of the disease is influenced by the treatment and they confirm the need for long-term therapy with an emphasis on immunomodulation.