At the 2021 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium, Saira Sheikh, MD, associate proÂfessor of Medicine and director of the Rheumatology Lupus Clinic, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, provided an update on the past, present and future of the management of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This year, hydroxychloroquine received a great deal of attention, given early…
A 61-year-old white woman presented to our rheumatology clinic in New England to establish care in early June 2018, following a move from Texas. She reported a medical history of inflammatory bowel disease, uveitis and seroÂnegative inflammatory arthritis, which was difficult to control and required the use of multiple medications. At her initial visit, she…
A 26-year-old Peruvian woman presented to the emergency department of a large teaching hospital in Lima, Peru, with epistaxis and hematomas that had occurred over the preceding few days; she was found to have severe thrombocytopenia and a normocytic, normochromic anemia. She was treated with pulse doses of methylprednisolone; however, within two days, she presented…
A phase 3 trial described in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) highlights the potential of a C5a receptor inhibitor, avacopan, for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis.1 Avacopan may potentially offer a steroid-sparing option for the treatment of this serious disease. Current Treatment of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis Morbidity and mortality from ANCA-associated vasculitis have…
AMA Honors Mark Andrejeski with Lifetime Achievement Award In November 2020, the American Medical Association (AMA) presented Mark Andrejeski, the recently retired executive vice president of the ACR, with its Medical Executive Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors a medical association executive who has contributed substantially to the goals and ideals of the medical profession….
Nearly all adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with chronic pediatric rheumatic disease require transfer of care to an adult rheumatologist, yet almost half are lost from care at the time of transfer.1-3 Although sometimes framed as a discrete event, transition refers to the longitudinal process, often spanning several years, in which AYAs and their families…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—U.K. experts propose evidence-based management strategies for rheumatology patients on immunosuppressive therapy, including delaying/postponing rituximab, as appropriate. “The aim of this viewpoint article is to outline the existing data on the effect of anti-rheumatic therapy on vaccine responses in patients with inflammatory arthritis and to formulate a possible pragmatic strategy for the…
Researchers found nearly all systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients have autoantibodies against long interspersed nuclear elements (LINE-1) p40. These findings suggest LINE-1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of SLE.
The occurrence of opportunistic infections is an established complication in patients diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The foremost challenge in such circumstances is differentiating between an exacerbation or progression of SLE, and the effects of the infection itself.1 Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous parasite that often causes an asymptomatic infection in healthy, immunocompetent adults….
Research from Ellingwood et al. examines how often patients diagnosed with early RA experience episodic joint inflammation and describes characteristics that may result in RA development.