William P. Docken, MD
Senior Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School, Boston
Charles Plotz, MD, and William P. Docken, MD | Issue: May 2013 |
William P. Docken, MD
Senior Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School, Boston
Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA) have common clinical and epidemiologic links, but they need not occur synchronously
Originally posted Feb. 13, 2023; reposted in conjunction with publication of the PMR supplement to the February 2024 issue of The Rheumatologist. PHILADELPHIA—Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a chronic inflammatory condition that almost exclusively affects individuals older than 50.1 First described in 1888, PMR has been a recognized rheumatic disease since at least 1957. Diagnosing the…
Patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) or peripheral arthritis may require extra vigilance during treatment because of a suspected link to giant cell arteritis (GCA) and, potentially, permanent vision loss. “Development of giant cell arteritis after treating polymyalgia or peripheral arthritis: a retrospective case-control study,” a March 2018 study published in The Journal of Rheumatology, suggests…
Recognizing the need to provide guidance on the current disparate management of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), in collaboration with the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), recently published the first international set of recommendations for the screening, treatment and management of PMR.1,2 Specifically, the recommendations offer guidance on the use of…