The problem that dogs the work of all of those treating patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is the apparent lack of knowledge of the syndrome, both by the general public, as well as by swaths of the medical fraternity. Perhaps it was ever thus—a syndrome less than 40 years old could be described as new,…
The Case A 41-year-old woman was referred to the dermatology clinic for a three-month history of tender lesions on her elbows and around the joints of her hands. Her medical history was notable for seropositive, non-erosive rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which was being treated with 5 mg prednisone daily, 10 mg methotrexate weekly by mouth, 200…
SAN FRANCISCO—By harnessing the power of next generation sequencing strategies and combining them with clever statistical strategies and tools, investigators are striving to define causal pathways of and mechanisms underlying complex diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to Soumya Raychaudhuri, MD, PhD, associate professor, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, during a session…
Recently, an FDA committee announced support for the approval of CT-P13, an infliximab biosimilar. The FDA has also fast tracked the development of a fibromyalgia treatment designed for multiple symptoms…
A 47-year-old Caucasian woman presented to the rheumatology clinic with a one-year history of pain and swelling involving the wrists, hands, ankles and feet that progressively worsened. Her symptoms included generalized fatigue, morning stiffness in the hands and lower back lasting more than an hour, Raynaud’s phenomena (triphasic), photosensitivity, tightening of the skin of the…
SAN FRANCISCO—Research is revealing more clues about the environmental factors that likely play a role in triggering rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients who are susceptible—or that may even protect them from autoimmunity. Large-scale, lengthy population studies conducted at institutions worldwide provide in-depth data from which to identify potential triggers and protective factors for RA, from…
SAN FRANCISCO—The risk of stroke after herpes zoster (HZ) infection is elevated in the period immediately after infection in patients with autoimmune diseases, according to a study presented at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting.1 The findings were presented in a scientific session, called Discover 2015, that highlighted new research. In another study from the session,…
SAN FRANCISCO—Men and women have different mechanisms that are at work in producing pain in rheumatic diseases—a little-studied and little-appreciated fact that is crucial to developing and using the right kinds of treatments, an expert in rheumatic disease pain said in a talk at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The lack of acknowledgment of this…
SAN FRANCISCO—Treatment for transthyretin-related amyloidosis (ATTR) is generating more interest from academic researchers and the pharmaceutical industry, with encouraging early results using a multi-pronged therapeutic approach, a researcher said at a review course held before the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. Amyloidoses are a rare and potentially deadly family of diseases in which misfolded protein builds…
SAN FRANCISCO—Behçet’s disease is a vasculitis that can be hard to pin down, with a wide variety of manifestations, many of which overlap with other auto-inflammatory conditions, an expert said at a clinical review course at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The most common feature is oral ulcers, which are expected to be seen at…