The PERISCOPE Trial: Continuing vs Stopping Biologics for Inflammatory Joint Disease

Biologic therapies have revolutionised the treatment of autoimmune conditions, but when patients with inflammatory joint disease face surgery, clinicians and patients have a tough choice: stop these powerful medicines and risk a painful flare up of the condition or continue them and face potential infection or compromised healing.

This week in The Research Room Professor Kulveer Mankia and Trial Manager Dr Sam Brady tell us all about the PERISCOPE trial, a randomised controlled trial designed to settle this clinical catch-22.

We discover how this study aims to provide robust evidence that could change national guidelines and improve the lives of the vast number of people living with these conditions across the UK. Plus, discover what a well-known cartoon dog has to do with the future of orthopedic surgery!

Resources from this episode:

Find out more about PERISCOPE: https://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/research/trials/ytutrialsandstudies/trials/periscope/#tab-2 

Read about the PERISCOPE trial here: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/6/e084997 

Music by Matthew Bailey