ALEXANDER LILA

Under the scientific supervision of A. M. Lila 1 PhD thesis was defended, currently 4 applicants prepared their PhD thesis. A. M. Lila is the author of 264 publications, including monographs, books, practical guides for doctors in rheumatology, Hirsch index - 11. He is Editor- in-chief of the journal "Modem rheumatology", member of the editorial Board of the journals "Scientific and Practical Rheumatology" and "The Clinician".

A.M. Lila is a member of the Presidium of the all-Russian public organization "Association of Rheumatologists of Russia", Vice-President of the Association of Therapists of St. Petersburg, member of the Presidium of the Scientific Society of Therapists of St. Petersburg named after S. P. Botkin. Awarded 3 medals, badge "Excellent Health" of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia.


Professor A.M. Lila is respected by the medical community as a prominent scientist, talented rheumatologist and general practitioner, as well as a teacher. He has extensive experience in organizational work in one of the largest medical universities in Russia. A. M. Lila made a significant contribution to the development of rheumatology service in St. Petersburg and the North-Western Federal region.

His research interests are rheumatology, clinical immunology, hematology, including the problems of combination of rheumatic and oncohematological diseases, medical and social aspects of diseases of the musculoskeletal system.

The presentation is focused on modem aspects of treatment of systemic sclerosis (SSc). We will describe the national and international guidelines, current methods of treatment of SSc with drugs, including rituximab and nintedanib. Along with that we will discuss treatment with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) which is included in the new guidelines EULAR 2016 as a way of treatment of severe progressive SSc.

The data of a multicenter randomized clinical trial ASTIS on the effectiveness and safety of HSCT and cyclophosphamide in patients with early progressive diffuse SSc were published in 2014. 156 patients from 29 European centers were included in the study. There were 79 patients in the main study group, they received HSCT. In the control group there were 77 patients, who were treated with cyclophosphamide 750 mg/m² once a month during one year. The follow-up lasted more than 3 years. Primary end-point was the survival rate after 3 years without any events (without death or organ failure). During the first year there were more adverse events in the HCST group (13) than in the control group, 8 patients died, and mortality was directly related to the treatment. There were no deaths in the control group after the first year. During the next 3 years there happened only 2 new adverse events in the first group, however, in the control group the amount of adverse events progressively increased. The assessment of 10-year survival has shown that the overall survival rate and the survival without adverse events were higher in the group receiving HSCT.

Conclusion: the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has shown its advantages as a treatment method of severe SSc with a poor prognosis. However, the transplantation of HSC could not change inconvertible processes in internal organs, thus this treatment is to be applied in the first 4-5 years of SSc for better outcomes.

Alexander Lila, Lidiya Ananieva, Evgeniy Nasonov
Scientific Research Institute of Rheumatology named after V.A. Nasonova of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation