ROME, Italy—In what researchers say is the first study evaluating cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) findings in early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA) patients, cardiovascular abnormalities were significantly worse in patients with ERA than in matched, healthy controls. The study results were presented at EULAR 2015, the annual congress of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). Cardiovascular Concerns…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Adding to earlier evidence, a new study finds kids with septic arthritis who are treated with dexamethasone recover faster. “We expected these results based on our previous randomized double-blind controlled study,” Dr. Itay Fogel from Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel and Tel Aviv University told Reuters Health by email. “However, the…
Two Phase 3 trials have shown that epratuzumab did not meet its primary endpoints for treating SLE. Meanwhile, a Phase 3 study has shown adalimumab is effective for treating enthesitis-related arthritis in juveniles…
(Reuters Health)—Doctors know smoking can increase the risk for certain common inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), but many patients haven’t gotten the message, a new study suggests. Out of 239 patients with two common types of IBD (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis) only half were aware of the smoking risks associated with these conditions. “The take-home…
Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune condition characterized by hypercoagulability often manifested as recurrent thrombosis or pregnancy complications, with persistently circulating antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies or lupus anticoagulant. Catastrophic APS (CAPS), also known as Asherson syndrome, occurs in less than 1% of cases of APS and involves occlusive microangiopathy in at least three organ systems.1 Case…
The Friday night press release: When a politician or any public figure needs to disclose unfavorable news, chances are they will release it sometime on a late Friday afternoon or evening, hoping that nobody is paying attention. In fact, this behavior was coined “the take out the trash day” on the television political drama, The…
Researchers have recently discovered a connection between the varicella zoster virus infection, which causes chicken pox and shingles, and giant cell arteritis…
Clinical Vignette A 45-year-old woman with long-standing asthma and chronic sinusitis has new-onset peripheral neuropathy, arthralgias, fatigue, progressive dyspnea and a nonproductive cough. She has never smoked and has no environmental exposures. Her medications include an albuterol metered-dose inhaler (which she uses daily); an inhaled corticosteroid, montelukast; and ibuprofen (which she takes occasionally). She is…
The Case A 68-year-old woman with a past medical history of Charcot-Marie-Tooth presents with thickening of the skin on her trunk and extremities, which she has had for the past seven months (see Figures 1 and 2). Her symptoms first began with swelling of her bilateral upper and lower extremities. She is now having difficulty…
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…