Research

Which is better for arthritic hands: surgery or drugs?

Rheumatoid arthritis cripples and deforms the hands of nearly one-quarter of the 2.1 million Americans who have the disease, slowly destroying the joints in their fingers. As a result, many have trouble performing everyday activities or working.

Despite the major impact of arthritis-related hand disability, doctors are divided over the best treatment to ease patients' pain and restore their motion and function. Rheumatologists tend to favor medications, while hand surgeons feel that many patients can get help from an operation to replace their knuckles with artificial joints. And no one has done a definitive, scientific study that will prove what works best in different patients.

Now, a U-M Health System (UMHS) team has received funding to perform such a study, and perhaps put the debate to rest so that all rheumatoid arthritis patients will be able to get the best treatment for their individual hand-related symptoms.

With a new $1.25 million grant from the National Institute for Arthritis and Musculo-skeletal and Skin Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, the U-M team will lead a multi-center international clinical trial comparing joint surgery and medication.

The trial, which will be conducted at UMHS, the Pulvertaft Hand Center in England and the Curtis National Hand Center in Baltimore, is preparing to accept its first patients.

Dr. Kevin Chung, a U-M hand surgeon and associate professor of plastic surgery in the Medical School, and Dr. David Fox, U-M rheumatology chair, lead the research team.

For more information on rheumatoid arthritis research and treatment at UMHS, call (800) 742-2300 and enter category number 6502.