A 47-year-old Caucasian woman presented to the rheumatology clinic with a one-year history of pain and swelling involving the wrists, hands, ankles and feet that progressively worsened. Her symptoms included generalized fatigue, morning stiffness in the hands and lower back lasting more than an hour, Raynaud’s phenomena (triphasic), photosensitivity, tightening of the skin of the…
Despite a generation of advances in molecular biology, a huge gap exists between the Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) patient’s description of their symptoms and the objective findings. Current issues include: Many SS patients are misclassified as either rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), even within rheumatology clinics. Frequently, the sickest SS patients with extraglandular…
Case report: A 78-year-old Caucasian female presented to our outpatient rheumatology clinic with pain in her bilateral shoulders, hands and knees that began suddenly one month earlier. She admitted to stiffness in her hands lasting several hours, and expressed an inability to extend her fingers. She denied fever, rashes, jaw claudication, headache or visual changes….
The FDA has fast-tracked the development of a drug to treat systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma; initial clinical trials started in June. Also, a major hospital group in France has selected the biosimilar infliximab to treat its patients with RA, Crohn’s disease and psoriasis…
Although close collaboration with a variety of specialists outside of rheumatology is important, you could make the case for rheumatologists and pulmonologists having to work together even more closely. If lung symptoms are severe and not under control, the results could be fatal. However, the question sometimes is when to refer—even when there are not…
Links between autoimmunity, malignancy prompt rheumatologists to include cancer screening for patients
Tips to screen for, treat central or peripheral nervous system disorders, lymphoma in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome
Rheumatology experts discuss challenge of selecting appropriate SSc patients with skin fibrosis for treatment
A review of data on antinuclear antibodies and tests for rheumatoid arthritis
Diagnosis, treatment and management of refractory gastrointestinal hemorrhage in a patient with GPA