At the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Francisco in November, the ACR and the ARHP honored a group of distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to rheumatology research, education and patient care. In the December 2015 issue, The Rheumatologist reported on the ACR’s awards. This month, we speak with the ARHP winners about…
I am a few weeks post-retirement. Having written thank you notes and completed urgent home projects, I swing in a hammock at our currently fire-threatened cabin north of Winthrop, Wash., and reflect. I feel like a young boy while freely flipping pages of a hand-scribed picture book, The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman. She…
“Worst of all is the pain in my calves,” she said. “It feels like burning deep inside.” So began my first encounter with a 69-year-old woman who was referred to rheumatology clinic for evaluation of two months of constitutional symptoms and a positive ANCA test, which had been ordered by her primary care doctor. Her…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—More than 40% of patients with early inflammatory back pain suggestive of axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) show bone loss over the course of two years, according to French researchers. SpA is known to be associated with bone loss at the spine and the hip and an increased risk of vertebral fractures. To investigate…
Patients with non-radiographic axSpA experience reduced mobility and quality of life. In this study, researchers investigated the effect of treatment for nr-axSpA every four weeks with SQ golimumab (GLM). Seventy-one percent of patients in the GLM group achieved ASAS 20 response at Week 16, compared with 40.0% in the control group…
The FDA has approved new labeling for infused golimumab to include measures of mental and physical health. Plus romosozumab meets primary endpoints in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis during a Phase 3 trial…
Dr. Simon Helfgott’s essay, “Barking at the Moon,” in the July 2015 issue of The Rheumatologist, about the unintended consequences of EHRs (electronic health records) prompted me to share my experience regarding the newly recognized KeMo disease. Keyboarding and mouse-clicking (KeMo) activity now consumes about 50% of the medical clinician’s day, as the modern EHRs…
Follow-up Visit with Time A 62-year-old male patient returns to the office for a follow-up visit for chronic idiopathic gout without tophi. The patient’s present uric acid level is 4.0, and he is now taking allopurinol 450 mg per day. Previously, he was taken off indapamide due to an increase in his uric acid. He…
(Reuters Health)—Up to 15% of people with psoriasis have undiagnosed arthritis that’s related to the skin condition, according to a new review. “The important takeaway,” said Dr. Abby Van Voorhees, director of the Psoriasis and Phototherapy Treatment Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, “would be that further education is needed…
A 65-year-old established female patient returns to the office for a follow-up visit for her diagnosis of fibromyalgia. She complains of pain, stiffness and swelling in her left hand, elbow and neck that is persistent since her last visit. The pain is considerably worse in the morning. She denies any fevers, cough or dyspnea. The…