Scleroderma is a rare rheumatologic autoÂimmune disease that affects the skin and can also affect other organs. Due to excess formation of scar tissue, blood flow to the extremities is decreased, primarily to the hands, and tissues often become hypoxic, resulting in sclerodactyly and proximal skin involvement.2 The incidence of scleroderma in the U.S. is…
In 1984, I wrote my first prescription for the antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), for a 28-year-old woman with SLE. She was considerably overweight, with inflammatory arthritis and a photosensitive rash, and I worried that oral corticosteroids would tip her over into diabetes. I presented the case to my attending, Steven Malawista, MD, at the Yale…
Recognizing, reducing risk of bone fractures in pediatric patients with rheumatic disease, taking glucocorticoid therapy
Review of clinical research on methotrexate therapy, effect on patients’ functionality, tolerability, adverse events
Radiograph, MR images of a 55-year-old man with chronic back pain
Lack of efficacy, poor DAS scores may be misinterpreted as a drug failure
Overview of OA pathogenesis, recent discoveries suggest new treatment strategies are possible
Combination therapy includes abatacept for patient with erosive, chronic RA, underlying osteoarthritis and degenerative disk disease
Case report highlights important twist to differential diagnosis of neuropsychiatric lupus
Chronic inflammation, cancer and autoimmunity are inextricably linked