Baltimore—Rheumatologists and meteorologists share more in common than you might suspect, said Dr. Rebecca Manno, assistant professor of medicine for the Division of Rheumatology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and assistant director of the Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center. At a March 8 meeting of the Maryland Society for the Rheumatic Diseases, Dr. Manno used the…
Case Review: MRI Leads to Non-Rheumatic Diagnosis Surprise
Rheumatologists often rely on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of suspected muscular diseases. Here, we describe a case in which unexpected findings on MRI pointed to a diagnosis rarely considered as a mimicker of rheumatologic disease. The Case A 19-year-old man of Middle Eastern descent was admitted to our hospital for evaluation of…
Case Report: Refractory Calciphylaxis in Lupus
Calciphylaxis is a poorly understood and life-threatening ischemic vasculopathy characterized by calcification of the small- and medium-size arteries in the skin, subcutaneous tissue and internal organs, which leads to thrombosis, tissue necrosis and painful skin ulcerations that won’t heal. The disease has a 50–80% mortality rate. Although affected patients typically have end-stage renal disease (ESRD)…
Researchers Test Belimumab in Scleroderma
A yearlong pilot study that evaluated the safety and efficacy of belimumab in a small group of patients with early diffuse systemic sclerosis found no significant difference in the number of adverse events between those treated with the drug and those who received a placebo. Currently, no drugs are approved specifically for the treatment of…
Case Report: Skin-Deep Eosinophils
Eosinophilia is usually defined as an eosinophil count of more than 500/microL in peripheral blood.1 An eosinophil count of more than 1,500 is referred to as hypereosinophilia (HE); hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is defined as HE associated with organ dysfunction attributable to eosinophilia.2 Eosinophilia can occur due to infectious, malignancy, autoimmune or allergic etiologies. However, a…
Should You Treat SSc with Cyclophosphamide or Mycophenolate?
Patients with scleroderma, systemic sclerosis (SSc), myositis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may develop interstitial lung disease (ILD), which affects a patient’s breathing and quality of life. Prospective studies have revealed that in patients with SSc a greater rate of decline of forced vital capacity (FVC) is associated with increased mortality. Although corticosteroids are commonly used…
IgG4-Related Kidney Disease: Diagnostics, Manifestations & More
Immunoglobin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a rare fibro-inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that has been recently recognized. It can cause fibro-inflammatory masses in almost every organ of the body and is associated with dense lymphoplasmacytic infiltration of IgG4-postitive plasma cells, storiform fibrosis and elevated levels of serum IgG4.1 IgG4-RD is a systemic disease that may…
Denosumab Is Effective for Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteoporosis
A study identified denosumab as a useful treatment for patients initiating or continuing glucocorticoids who are at risk for fractures. Denosumab had clinical effects similar to risedronate but was more effective than risedronate in the improvement of bone mineral density at the lumbar spine…
Romosozumab Has Biggest BMD Benefit in First Year of Treatment
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Romosozumab shows smaller benefits for increasing bone mineral density (BMD) in the second year of treatment compared to the first, new research suggests. The extension of a phase 2 study in postmenopausal women with low bone mass also found BMD decreased sharply when patients on romosozumab were switched to placebo after two…
Cutaneous Lupus Tied to Risk for Coexisting Autoimmune Conditions
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) should be monitored closely for other autoimmune conditions, researchers suggest. Dr. Benjamin Chong, Dr. Linda Hynan and Elaine Kunzler of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas analyzed data from 129 adults in the UTSW Cutaneous Lupus Registry (mean age, 49; 79% women). Individuals…
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