Recommendations of the French Society for Rheumatology (SFR) on the everyday management of patients with spondyloarthritis

The management of spondyloarthritis is challenging and has changed with the development of new concepts and treatments. Objective: To develop practice guidelines for the everyday management of patients with spondyloarthritis (including psoriatic arthritis), by updating previous national and international recommendations, based on a review of recently published data. Methods: A task force and a multidisciplinary literature review group were established. The task force identified the issues that remained unresolved. Based on existing recommendations and recent publications, the task force developed practice guidelines, which were revised by the literature review group and graded according to AGREE. Results: Practice guidelines for the management of spondyloarthritis are reported. After a review of the general diagnostic principles, 30 practice guidelines are given: 5 on general principles, 4 on the management strategy, 5 on non-pharmacological treatments, 7 on conventional pharmacological treatments, 6 on biotherapies, and 3 on surgical treatments and follow-up. Conclusion: The updated practice guidelines reported here constitute a global framework that can guide physicians in the everyday management of spondyloarthritis. (C) 2013 Societe francaise de rhumatologie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.