Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune inflammatory disease. Although RA develops its central pathology within the synovium of diarthrodial joints, many non-articular organs can be involved, particularly in patients with severe joint disease.1 Although most patients are asymptomatic, cardiac involvement is relatively common and includes rheumatic heart nodules, pericarditis (30–50%), pericardial effusion and…
Three clinical experts on gout offer their insights into common management errors, clinical pearls, new safety data from the FDA and the role of biologic therapies in the management of gout.
Two JAK inhibitors, one recently approved by the FDA, have shown improvements in patients with active RA for whom other therapies have proved ineffective…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Mortality rates in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitis (AAV) decreased from 1999 to 2017, according to records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “The mortality attributed to several rare diseases [e.g., hypersensitivity pneumonitis] has increased in recent years,” Alexander W. Steinberg, MD, from Saint Joseph Hospital, Denver, tells…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) and surgical lung biopsy (SLB) had a high level of agreement for diagnosing interstitial lung disease in the first comparative study. “These data suggest that TBLC, when done by an experienced proceduralist, is a valid first-line minimally invasive diagnostic tool for patients with interstitial lung disease deemed to…
Accurately classifying patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) can be difficult, especially patients with monoarticular/oligoarticular and polyarticular forms of PsA. A session at the 2019 European Congress of Rheumatology provided insight into the assessment and treatment of PsA subtypes…
According to new research, women with SLE are at the highest risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes during a lupus flare. The data may enable clinicians to use risk stratification and tailored monitoring to counsel SLE patients who are pregnant or considering pregnancy. Researchers also found that maternal age, lupus nephritis and antiphospholipid antibodies may affect pregnancy outcomes…
CHICAGO—At the 2019 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium, an annual gathering featuring talks by key opinion leaders on the most salient topics for practicing rheumatologists and healthcare providers, Jose U. Scher, MD, director of the Microbiome Center for Rheumatology and Autoimmunity at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York City, was the featured speaker. In his remarks,…
Dan Reynolds, the lead singer of the Grammy award-winning band Imagine Dragons, has partnered with Novartis to increase awareness of ankylosing spondylitis.
Sir William Osler, widely regarded as one of the greatest physicians of the 20th century, once said, “He who studies medicine without books sails an uncharted sea, but he who studies medicine without patients does not go to sea at all.”1 This sentiment is particularly true in the field of rheumatology, in which understanding the…