There are additional reasons why these reports of healing and
the negative scores drew attention. Of particular importance,
therapy with TNFα blockers – which are more potent than previously employed therapies – resulted in lower levels of dis-
ease activity than were previously seen. As inflammation is a
major driver of damage, an absence of inflammation a priori is
a prerequisite for halting progression, and for making possible
reversal of damage. In addition, data have been presented
suggesting that TNFα blockers inhibit radiographic progression even in the presence of some persistent inflammation [9].
Presenting radiographic data by probability plots also revealed
much more clearly the number of patients with negative scores
by presenting the individual data of all patients, and this provided new insight into the potential magnitude of repair [10].