ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—Among the many ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of modern medicine is the emergence of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but serious condition that shares many features of Kawasaki disease (KD). With this topic in mind, leading pediatric experts from around the world came together…
A study from October 2019 describes the clinical characteristics of pediatric patients with undefined systemic autoinflammatory diseases. Researchers conducted a genetic analysis and outlined specific variants. They found patients with pericarditis and intellectual impairment may have distinct clinical phenotypes, which may lead to improved diagnostic and treatment options.
Clinically amyotrophic dermatomyositis (CADM), a subset of dermatomyositis (DM), is a rare autoimmune disease characterized by typical DM cutaneous findings (e.g., heliotrope rash, Gottron papules, Gottron sign) without evidence of myositis.1 The incidence of DM and CADM is approximately 9.63 per 1 million people and 2.08 per 1 million people, respectively.2 The association with development…
The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is disrupting patient care all over the world. In the U.S., many providers have had to adapt to new social distancing measures to care for patients, but struggles remain. Mark J. Sinnett, PharmD, FASHP, director of clinical and educational pharmacy services and director of the Center for Pharmacotherapy Research…
In March 2020, an elderly married couple living on Long Island, N.Y., presented to our emergency department with symptoms suspicious for COVID-19 infection. The wife, a-76-year-old woman, presented with complaints of subjective fevers, minimal dry cough and headaches of one-week duration. She denied having any chills, rhinorrhea, diarrhea, abdominal pain or shortness of breath. Two…
ATLANTA—Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), a subset of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) disease, can be a fatal result of rheumatic disease. But there’s good news: New therapeutic options for refractory MAS targeting individual cytokines are emerging. At the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting, possible therapeutic options were presented during a pediatric-focused clinical and translational research track, Therapeutic Approaches…
The new coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19, reminds us how we have struggled to keep ahead of mutating pathogens through the ages.
Reproductive health can be a concern for patients with rheumatic diseases, and practitioners in both rheumatology and obstetrics/gynecology often work closely together. The 2020 ACR Guideline for the Management of Reproductive Health in Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases, new clinical recommendations developed by an ACR-convened group for pregnant women, post-menopausal women, lactating women, and women and…
The evidence-based guideline includes contraceptive recommendations and suggestions for rheumatologists co-managing patients with obstetrician-gynecologists and other specialists.
New research seeking to describe the characteristics of undefined, systemic autoinflammatory diseases may have identified distinct subgroups, including pericarditis and intellectual impairment…