ACR Convergence 2025| Video: Rheuminations on Milestones & Ageism

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Search results for: back pain

Sacroiliitis on MRI: axSpA or Another Cause?

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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.

Case Report: Abscess as a Manifestation of Autoinflammatory Disease

Katherine Chakrabarti, MD, & Andrew Vreede, MD  |  

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…

Ethics Forum: Balancing Competing Interests to Meet Patients’ Needs

Charis Meng, MD  |  

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…

Imaging of Axial Psoriatic Arthritis

Walter P. Maksymowych, MB ChB, FACP, FRCP(C)  |  

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…

Axial Disease in Psoriatic Arthritis

Philip Helliwell, DM, PhD, FRCP  |  

When Moll and Wright first described the spondyloarthritides in the early 1970s, the archetype of the group was ankylosing spondylitis (AS).1 The shared clinical features of the spondyloarthritides were sacroiliitis; asymmetric large joint peripheral arthritis; psoriasis or psoriaform skin lesions, including keratoderma blennorrhagica; uveitis; and bowel inflammation. Moll and Wright described five clinical subgroups of…

Common Misconceptions Clarified: Ankylosing Spondylitis & Non-Radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis

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At the 17th Annual Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of the Rheumatic Diseases meeting at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Atul Deodhar, MD, discussed ankylosing spondylitis and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis & clarified common misconceptions about these conditions.

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How to Avoid Cognitive Errors in Rheumatology

Megan Milne, MD, & Rebecca E. Sadun, MD, PhD  |  

The 1999 Institute of Medicine report To Err Is Human gave a sobering depiction of the magnitude and consequences of medical error.1 The report concluded that approximately 98,000 people die in hospitals annually due to preventable medical errors. Of all the errors detailed in this report, diagnostic errors have since been determined to be the…

In the Bones: RheumMadness 2022 False Positive MRI in Axial SpA

University of South Florida Rheumatology Fellowship Program: Anastasiya (Stacy) Bagrova, MD; Shreya Gor, MD; Joanne Valeriano-Marcet, MD; Larry Young, MD; & John Carter, MD  |  

Spondyloarthropathy (SpA) can be difficult to diagnose, with rheumatologists sometimes relying on classification criteria designed for clinical trials. Research examines how the use of MRIs affects the finding of bone marrow edema and the diagnosis of axial SpA.

Ancient Arthritis: RheumMadness 2022 Dinosaur SpA Scouting Report

Virginia Commonwealth University Rheumatology Fellowship Program: David Shoemaker, MD; Evan Dombrosky, MD; Nima Madanchi, MD; Abhishek Nandan, MD; & Huzaefah Syed, MD  |  

Spondyloarthropathy is an ancient form of arthritis shared by multiple orders and classes of the animal kingdom. Camarasaurus, a genus of quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaur, holds the record for the earliest known case of spondyloarthropathy—147 million years ago.