SAN DIEGO—At the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting Nov. 3–8, experts discussed improving bone health in the U.S., gave tips on bone health disorders in pediatrics and reviewed new translational science findings for joint conservation in early osteonecrosis. E. Michael Lewiecki, MD, director of the New Mexico Clinical Research & Osteoporosis Center in Albuquerque, N.M., called…
Prior authorization treatment delays, the preferred status conferred on some drugs by pharmacy benefit managers and exorbitant co-payments were among the issues brought before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging on Wednesday, Feb. 7. William F. Harvey, MD, MSc, FACR, a practicing rheumatologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and volunteer on the ACR…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Patients with suspected large-vessel vasculitis (LVV) should undergo early imaging, the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) advises in a new report presenting a dozen evidence-based recommendations for the use of imaging in primary LVV. Ultrasound should be the first choice for giant-cell arteritis (GCA), while MRI should take precedence for Takayasu arteritis…
SAN DIEGO—Fibrosis affects all organ systems, but isn’t always systemic sclerosis. Experts on less common forms discussed patient presentations, diagnosis and treatment at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Diego on Nov. 6. Retroperitoneal Fibrosis Formerly called Ormond’s disease, retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) is usually an IgG4-related disease, but has some unique characteristics, said John…
Colin Edgerton, MD, FACP, RhMSUS, learned many things during his tenure as a rheumatologist and U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, including how to lead large, facility-based medical operations. Combining this knowledge with his current role as a partner in Articularis Healthcare, the largest single-specialty rheumatology private practice in the U.S., Dr. Edgerton has a unique perspective…
Recent research examined the effectiveness of a pedometer-based intervention for managing fatigue in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). During the 21-week trial, RA patients using pedometers successfully increased their physical activity, with a greater than 30% decrease in the proportion of participants classified as sedentary. Patients also decreased their reported fatigue, and some reported improvements in function, pain, depressive symptoms and disease activity levels…
According to a large cohort study of pediatric patients, rituximab use is on the rise in the treatment of children diagnosed with vasculitis. Treatment with cyclophosphamide remains common, but it’s beginning to wane. Dialysis and mechanical ventilation also remain common, the study indicates. The retrospective study of hospitalized children in the U.S. included the largest…
Two decades have passed since the first biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (bDMARD) was approved. Studies on the long-term use of biologics in different disease states, such as for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and malignancy, as well as for knee/hip replacement, reveal some encouraging news. In clinical trials, bDMARDs have been shown to increase the risk of…
Bisphosphonate Drug Holidays Drug holidays are common for patients on bisphosphonate therapy. Often, these breaks in treatment are related to known U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warnings and drug class adverse effects. Currently, data on fracture risk related to drug holidays are limited. In recent research highlighted at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting ,…
Is rheumatoid arthritis (RA) preventable? Results of a newly published study suggest that personalized medicine approaches may result in health behavior that may reduce RA risk. “We have gotten to the point where we’ve identified some modifiable behaviors that affect rheumatoid arthritis risk,” says Jeffrey A. Sparks, MD, MMSc, assistant professor of medicine in the…