PHILADELPHIA—Approximately 100 research abstracts on axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) were accepted for presentation at ACR Convergence 2022. It is exciting to see a wealth of research on axSpA being undertaken worldwide. Here, we highlight important points from 10 of these studies. 1. Abstract 0378: Prevalence of Axial Spondyloarthritis (axSpA) in Patients Treated for Chronic Back Pain…
Early in 2022, a few months into the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Paula Rackoff, MD, a rheumatologist and clinical associate professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, felt an urgency to head to the region to assist the many refugees fleeing for the border with Poland. Dr. Rackoff canceled a planned…
The study of rheumatology (and medicine) in art, history, literature and music is engaging and informative.1-12 In this article, we present some instances when rheumatic and autoimmune diseases in certain individuals may have affected the course of history in Western civilization. Physicians are usually concerned, appropriately, with the effects of illness on the lives of…
The FDA has approved upadacitinib for the treatment of non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) based on a short-term study that demonstrated improved pain, function and other symptoms of nr-axSpA in patients with active disease.
A 60-year-old Black woman with a history of stage 3 chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes and hypertension presented with a 12-month history of asymmetric polyarthritis of the wrists, metacarpophalangeal (MCP), proximal interphalangeal (PIP), metatarsophalangeal (MTP) and knee joints. The review of systems was unremarkable. She denied oral ulcers, rashes, alopecia, or a history of…
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard imaging modality for the detection of sacroiliitis, a hallmark of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). However, the specificity of MRI for axSpA has been questioned. Renson et al. found that structural MRI-detected SI joint lesions are frequently seen in healthy individuals.
This EULAR 2022 session emphasized the importance of recognizing the axial manifestations of psoriatic arthritis and treating these symptoms accordingly.
Abscesses are typically caused by infections, but some are, instead, sterile. Aseptic abscesses (AAs) are characterized by the same neutrophil-rich histopathology as infectious abscesses; however, they don’t improve with antibiotics. Rather, AAs require treatment with anti-inflammatory medications. Although relatively rare, this phenomenon is important for rheumatologists to recognize given its frequent association with underlying systemic…
Scenario: A patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) presents for a follow-up visit. After addressing her inflammatory arthritis symptoms, medications and laboratory results, she is asked if she has any other questions, and she begins describing her chronic low back pain, which has become worse despite physical therapy (PT). She requests stronger medications because her RA…
The axial phenotype of psoriatic arthritis (axPsA) is an excellent example of a major controversy in rheumatology that has become the focus of attention because of the emergence of new therapies with different mechanisms of action for alleviating joint inflammation. It was first described in 1961 but, until recently, it has largely remained under the…