Rheumatology Advance Access published online on January 7, 2008
Rheumatology, doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kem332
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Three significant cases of neutropenia with etanercept
Department of Rheumatology, Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, Derby, DE1 2QY, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to: C. Deighton, Department of Rheumatology, Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, Derby, DE1 2QY, UK. E-mail: chris.deighton@derbyhospitals.nhs.uk
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SIR, Current BSR guidelines do not recommend regular blood count monitoring for anti-TNF therapy [1] as studies have suggested no increase in adverse haematological events [2–4]. We have noted a minority (14.3%) of our patients becoming neutropenic (<2.0 x 109/l) on anti-TNF [5], predominantly asymptomatically [5]. However, not all episodes have been without concern. Here we describe three cases of significant neutropenia on etanercept.
A 57-yr-old lady with aggressive seropositive RA since 1984 was intolerant of multiple DMARDs. She was on methotrexate and prednisolone (<10 mg), but