A 67-year-old man with a recent onset of diffuse muscular pain and stiffness and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 55 is referred to you by his family practitioner. He has a history of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, but no history of headaches or swollen joints. He has chronic back pain, has had two surgeries and was…
Videos designed to help patients understand and manage chronic rheumatologic diseases can lead to gains in clarity about the disease duration, symptoms, medications, and the importance of regular visits with a physician. A study published in a recent issue of Arthritis Care & Research looks at the development and impact of three educational videos for…
I am an alien rheumatologist. Are you? One in five rheumatology fellows is considered an alien. Under the Code of Federal Regulations Title 22 Chapter I Subchapter G Part 62 Subpart B Section 62.27, an alien physician is a foreign national who is a graduate of a school of medicine who comes to the U.S….
Lurie Prize Goes to Autoimmune Researcher Zhijian “James” Chen, PhD, is this year’s recipient of the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences for his 2012 discovery of the enzyme cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS). Dr. Chen received the prize at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Award Ceremony in May. His work revealed the paradoxical…
“Wait. I can explain.” One could imagine this phrase coming up under many conditions in daily life. When I first became a physician, however, I would never have expected to use this phrase in my clinic. In medical school, I was taught the importance of dialogue in establishing a relationship with a patient. Statistics indicate…
LONDON (Reuters)—Cut-price copies of expensive biotech drugs promise to slash the cost of treating serious diseases, including cancer, in rich and poor countries alike -but uneven regulation has created a lopsided market. Now the World Health Organization (WHO) is stepping in to assess the quality of such so-called biosimilars, offering a global stamp of approval…
A 54-year-old woman is establishing care in your clinic after retirement of her previous rheumatologist. Your review of her records suggests that she was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus seven years ago on the basis of symptoms of body pain and fatigue, and serologic evidence of positive ANA 1:40 (speckled) and borderline anti-SSB antibody. She…
Bad things happen to good rheumatologists—and to their patients—and can have profound personal and professional consequences for the doctor. Sometimes recommended treatments can have predictable, but devastating, side effects. Even if the rheumatologist does everything right according to evidence-based best practice, patients can still have bad outcomes, even die—with resulting feelings of sadness, anger, guilt…
Since they were first introduced in 2011, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become an important treatment for an expanding list of advanced cancers. Some concerns have been raised around the mechanism of action of these immunotherapy agents, making their use in rheumatic diseases (RD) problematical. An article in the March 2018 issue of Arthritis &…
We are sad to report that Nathan Wei, MD, FACR, passed away March 27 from aggressive cancer. Dr. Wei was a passionate, compassionate, fiercely independent innovator, student and teacher, who carved out his own way of doing things, always in the pursuit of excellent patient care. He was unafraid to embrace cutting-edge medical services for…