WASHINGTON, D.C.—Successful management of pain remains a challenge for rheumatologists. Five research abstracts presented at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in a session titled Pain—Basic and Clinical Aspects offered new insights on pain sensitization, and the risks and effects of various pain therapies. Knee Pain After Surgery Can we predict which patients will have longer-term…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Despite the value of guidelines, they often “are not read,” said N. Lawrence Edwards, MD, professor of medicine specializing in rheumatology at the University of Florida, at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting talk titled, New & Emerging Therapies for Gout, as part of the ACR Review Course. Or if they are read, they aren’t…
In a study of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), researchers found that the cytokine IL-17A may play a role in the pain associated with the disease. Specifically, decreased serum levels of vitamin D3 may contribute to OA pain via the regulation of immune responses…
(Reuters Health)—As a complement to traditional pain relief tools, such as medication, listening to music may lessen acute or chronic pain related to cancer and other conditions, according to a new review. “We have seen and observed this effect in multiple clinical settings, such as medical hospitals and hospice-care facilities,” says author Dr. Jin Hyung…
A recent analysis found that about 10% of RA patients taking tofacitinib do not follow recommended guidelines and more than half stop treatment by one year…
In the world of evidence-based medicine, basing diagnosis and treatment decisions on belief instead of data seems anachronistic. And yet … clinicians are human, and humans live in culture, and culture is formed by beliefs, and beliefs (consciously or unconsciously) drive perception and, often, action. So a new study shining a light on racial bias…
With the chronic pain and other health issues that many rheumatology patients face every day, it’s natural for rheumatologists and their patients to wonder if cannabinoid treatments are of any help. At this point, there is insufficient evidence to recommend cannabinoid treatments to manage rheumatic diseases, according to a review article published in the May…
Physicians have been puzzled by the role of benign joint hypermobility syndrome in the development of gastrointestinal disorders and other autonomic symptoms and co-morbidities. However, new research found that benign joint hypermobility syndrome only minimally affects autonomic abnormalities…
Inflammation in the knee was found to be associated with development of pain sensitization in recent research with a cohort from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (MOST). This research finding may indicate that targeting of inflammation could help reduce pain severity in knee osteoarthritis (OA). Tuhina Neogi, MD, PhD, says that her and her colleagues’ research,…
A 50-year-old man with history of superficial bladder carcinoma presented to our rheumatology clinic for a three-year history of symmetric polyarthralgias. He had undergone multiple transurethral resection of bladder tumor procedures and bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) treatments. Prior to receiving BCG, he was fully functional and employed. Days after receiving his second BCG treatment, he developed…