It has some common toxicities including skin and mucous membrane problems. C areful monitoring of gold therapy is very important in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. During the duration of the therapy complete blood counts, platelet counts and urinalyses must be done at the time of each injection. After a prolonged period of time without toxicity monitoring may be done every other injection. These are given orally.
Ophthalmologic monitoring is necessary to check for visual loss at an early reversible stage.
Patients should be seen by their eye doctors a minimum of once a year. This therapy should be discontinued if any eye problems are related to the medication. P enicillamine has been shown in controlled studies to be effective in reducing inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis. It is given orally. It must be carefully monitored.