Elderly patients have unique requirements with regard to treatment for pain, rheumatic disease and other ailments. Collaboration between rheumatologists, geriatricians and primary care physicians is essential to avoid unnecessary interventions and improve care for this patient population…
I read with interest the articles in the June issue of The Rheumatologist pertaining to high drug costs. Simon Helfgott rheuminated on it, and Susan Bernstein, a medical journalist, wrote a two-page article titled “Concerns About Cost.” Both articles were thoughtful summaries of a complex issue, putting large question marks over both initial prices and…
“Man may be the captain of his fate, but he is also the victim of his blood sugar.” —Wilfrid Oakley, MB BChir, an early pioneer in diabetes care Perusing the list of the most notable medical achievements in the 20th century, a reader may conclude that the discovery of insulin should rank in a category…
Despite the innovations of new biologics and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, a large unmet need remains for patients with rheumatic autoimmune disease. Treatment remains limited for many conditions, including for conditions with a dim prognosis, such as systemic sclerosis.1 One promising treatment avenue is hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). Here, we provide background on HSCT for severe…
The patient was a 48-year-old woman who saw her primary care physician for a flu-like illness three months prior to admission. Her symptoms initially improved, but recurred one month later; she was treated symptomatically, and again symptoms resolved. Two months later, she presented to an outside facility’s emergency department with fever to 103ºF, with associated…
The words genetically modified are making people run for the hills these days. Not so when it comes to arthritis care, however. In the lab of one pioneering researcher, genetic engineering is catapulting arthritis treatment years ahead. Farshid Guilak, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University, St. Louis, and…
Continually building awareness and understanding of rheumatic diseases is critical to both our profession and patient care, according to Kelly Weselman, MD, a rheumatologist in Smyrna, Ga., and a passionate advocate involved in planning the ACR’s annual Rheumatic Disease Awareness Month (RDAM). “Unlike cancer patients, whose disease is well known, patients battling a rheumatic disease…
(Reuters)—The benefits of Johnson and Johnson’s experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug sirukumab do not outweigh the risks, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Wednesday. The panel voted 12-1 that the drug should not be approved, citing safety concerns, including an imbalance in the number of deaths in patients taking sirukumab…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A U.S. Senate led by Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans dealt the president a harsh blow on Friday, failing to move ahead with a major campaign promise to dismantle Obamacare as they fell one vote short of passing healthcare legislation. Three senators—John McCain (R-Az.), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.)—joined Senate Democrats in the…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—After a months-long struggle, Republicans have succeeded in bringing Obamacare repeal legislation, a centerpiece of their 2016 election campaigns, to a debate on the U.S. Senate floor. Now the hard part begins. Republicans, deeply divided over the proper role of the government in helping low-income people receive healthcare, eked out a procedural win on…