As treatments for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) emerge, a clinical trial comparing the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor upadacitinib and the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor adalimumab provided some new insights. Published earlier this year in The New England Journal of Medicine, the SELECT-PsA 1, double-blind, phase 3 trial found that a 30 mg dose of upadacitinib…
Approximately 50% of young adult patients with childhood-onset rheumatic diseases become lost to follow-up within the first year of transferring to adult rheumatology care, mirroring the statistics of other subspecialties.1,2 One of the challenges cited most consistently by young adult patients and their families relates to differences between rheumatology care delivery in the pediatric and…
The difference between Castleman disease and Castleman-like disease may be subtle, but it comes with significant ramifications. Case Presentation This case involves a pregnant 19-year-old woman who presents over multiple hospitalizations with concerns for systemic lupus erythematosus and macrophage activation syndrome. At 36 weeks’ gestation, the patient’s weight had dropped from 215 lbs. to 170…
The impressive progress of medical knowledge and technology reinforces our trust in the scientific methodology that made it all possible. However, that progress also creates risks related to the primary goal of medical care: to serve our patients’ interests and enjoyment of life in the best possible way. In this article we present our views…
Furuta et al. evaluated the benefits of reducing glucocorticoid doses during remission induction for patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis. The researchers found a reduced-dose-glucocorticoid-plus-rituximab regimen was noninferior to a regimen of high-dose glucocorticoids plus rituximab in these patients.
About 30% of patients with psoriasis have psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a complex, multi-faceted, chronic, inflammatory musculoskeletal and skin disease for which the treatment has changed considerably over the past few years.1 Biosimilars and other new drugs have become a therapeutic turning point for many patients suffering from rheumatic illnesses, including PsA. The treatment of PsA…
Andy Abril, MD, a lead author of the ACR/VF guideline for Takayasu arteritis (TAK), discusses the recommendations for TAK.
An overview of the research to date and the ways in which such evidence can be used to guide the treatment of patients was presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting in a session titled Optimizing Outcomes in Psoriatic Arthritis: A Domain-Based Strategy. In the years since this presentation, additional research has helped supply greater…
On Oct. 8, ChemoCentryx Inc. announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved avacopan (TAVNEOS), an orally administered selective complement 5a receptor inhibitor, as an adjunctive treatment of adult patients with severe active anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitis (ANCA-associated vasculitis), specifically granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) (the two main forms…
New and updated FY22 diagnosis codes became effective for encounters on or after Oct. 1, 2021, including key updates for Sjögren syndrome and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.