Hip and knee replacements—despite advancement in treatments for rheumatic diseases, some patients will still need to undergo these surgeries. Here are insights into the considerations, costs and complications of total joint arthroplasty.
Erin Wilfong, MD, PhD, shared her niche expertise in connective tissue disease ILD (CTD-ILD) via case-based learning during a session of the 2022 ACR Education Exchange.
The ACR’s Committee on Rheumatology Training & Workforce Issues helps young rheumatologists to become successful and find meaning in their work. Here is an update on the committee’s most recent accomplishments.
For best safety and efficacy outcomes, trials in psoriatic arthritis should use active comparators and stricter remission criteria, with outcome measures that are important to patients.
Autoinflammatory disorders may involve genetic mutations of the inflammasome or an environmental trigger in a genetically susceptible host. Dr. Jay Mehta discussed a practical, clinical approach to caring for patients with autoinflammatory disorders, such as periodic fever syndromes, during the 2022 ACR Education Exchange.
I wouldn’t normally look to professional basketball as a model for healthcare, but sometimes answers come from unexpected places. The observation that elite athletes are not like you and me—medically speaking—is not new. In the second century AD, the pontifex maximus in Pergamum recognized this fact and appointed Claudius Galen physician to the gladiators, making…
Because rheumatologists and mental health experts both treat patients with depression, anxiety, pain, disability and sleep disorders, provider cross-training may benefit patients and providers themselves. “When a patient has active psychosocial distress, this has a negative effect on their physical function. Similarly, if a patient has active physical symptoms, like a rheumatoid arthritis flare, this…
Eaton et al. set out to describe the prevalence, incidence and progression of radiographic and symptomatic hand osteoarthritis (OA), and to evaluate differences according to age, sex, race and other risk factors.
Doebl et al. compared the effect of symptoms and the healthcare use of people with fibromyalgia with those who fulfilled the criteria for fibromyalgia but had not been diagnosed and those with chronic pain. They found patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia reported the poorest healthcare experiences and were more likely than other study participants to be unemployed due to health issues. Their findings reveal an urgent need exists for a model of care for patients with fibromyalgia.
The Washington Rheumatology Alliance is focused on creative ways to increase the rheumatology workforce to meet the demand for care, such as instituting clinical rotations in rheumatology for nurse practitioner programs and advocating for pediatric rheumatologist loan forgiveness.