High-resolution computed tomography shows evidence of ILD.
The ACR/CHEST ILD Guidelines in Practice, a video
In collaboration with the American College of Chest Physicians, the ACR released two new comprehensive guidelines aimed at improving the screening, monitoring, and treatment of patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) secondary to systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs). Recently, Sindhu R. Johnson, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada, director of the Toronto Scleroderma Program and principal investigator for the guideline, and Elana J. Bernstein, MD, MSc, Florence Irving associate professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at Columbia University, New York City, and co-first author, presented a webinar to talk about how the guidelines were developed and present some of the recommendations and their rationale: Watch the recording now!
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has the potential to fundamentally shift the treatment of autoimmune disease. During his presentation at EULAR 2024, Georg Schett, MD, provided an overview of this treatment process and described the promising findings of the latest research.
An ACR-led resolution that calls for Medicaid payment parity for pediatric specialists will become AMA policy.
Mannion et al. set out to describe the adult rheumatology workforce in the U.S. by measuring the number of rheumatologists and advanced practice providers entering and exiting the field and studying their demographics.
Methotrexate—an affordable, established drug for rheumatoid arthritis—may also be helpful for patients suffering from osteoarthritis (OA) of the hand, a recent study reports.1 Treatment of hand OA and inflammation with 20 mg of methotrexate for six months had a moderate, but potentially clinically meaningful, effect on reducing pain and stiffness in patients with symptomatic hand…
“When pharmacy benefit managers [PBMs] came into being 30 years ago, they were seen as an important component of the prescription distribution system [because] they could guide benefits and money between the patient, pharmacy and the manufacturer,” says Angus Worthing, MD, president of the Alliance for Transparent & Affordable Prescriptions (ATAP). Health insurance companies hire…
Effective July 5, discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age and disability by healthcare programs receiving federal assistance is once again prohibited. The application of Section 1557 to all HHS health programs and activities and state and federally facilitated exchanges, which had been weakened by the Trump administration, has been reinstated.
Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an acquired thromboinflammatory disease that can have severe, sometimes catastrophic, effects on patients and their families. Our modern understanding of APS began to emerge in the early 1980s. At that point, it was defined as a condition characterized by thrombotic episodes and/or pregnancy complications in the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL).1…
Hoy et al. sought to evaluate the presence, clinical associations, and potential mechanistic roles of circulating calprotectin in a cohort of patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and those with antiphospholipid antibodies. Calprotectin levels were higher in patients with primary APS and those with antiphospholipid antibodies than in healthy controls. These data suggest that calprotectin has the potential to be a functional biomarker and a new therapeutic target for APS-related thrombocytopenia.
The ACR will lead five other specialty societies on a resolution supporting pediatric specialty care and will co-lead resolutions addressing Medicare Advantage Part B drug coverage, white bagging mandates, state prescription drug affordability boards and impacts of alternative funding programs on access to care.
A handful of articles on artificial intelligence (AI) have graced the pages of this publication in the past six years, including one by Bharat Kumar, MD, in November 2022. Dr. Kumar highlighted the exciting potential of AI in rheumatology, including machine learning (ML) algorithms for the prediction of response to methotrexate and a predictive model…