Patient: I have been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for 4 years, and I have not received any regular treatment since it was first discovered. I am afraid that if the medicine is too single, the deformity will continue to develop. Can I get good control by taking only one drug, methotrexate? Can I ask if I should use a combination therapy? Xueyong Deng, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Peking University First Hospital: The severity of rheumatoid arthritis varies from patient to patient. The principle of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis is the earlier the better, and the treatment plan is constantly adjusted to achieve the desired goal. We have some scoring systems to evaluate the activity of the disease. The current common scoring system includes several items: number of tender joints, number of swollen joints, patient’s self-evaluation and sedimentation/c-reactive protein values, based on which we calculate a score. Just as there is a standard blood pressure for hypertension and a standard blood sugar for diabetes, there is also a standard for rheumatoid treatment. If you do not meet the standard, you need to intensify your treatment.