The reach of Lyme disease is expanding across the U.S., and cases may be under-reported. A recent CDC case report describes the experiences of two patients with fatal cases of Lyme carditis…

The reach of Lyme disease is expanding across the U.S., and cases may be under-reported. A recent CDC case report describes the experiences of two patients with fatal cases of Lyme carditis…
Mike Fillon |
ATLANTA—The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), headquartered in New York City, uses community-based participatory research (CBPR) models to develop patient programs. One popular self-help program for arthritis patients evolved from a different initiative focused on orthopedic pain management, according to speakers in a session at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting. According to Titilayo Ologhobo, MPH,…
Ioannis Parodis, MD, PhD, & Katie Druce, PhD |
Since 1998, the ACR/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Exchange Program has supported junior academic rheumatologists, rheumatology professionals and health professionals in rheumatology in traveling from Europe to the U.S., and vice versa, to exchange clinical and research skills, expertise and knowledge. The program is designed to recognize outstanding early career faculty in rheumatology research, so…
Sara M. Stern, MD, Matthew L. Basiaga, DO, MSCE, & Scott M. Lieberman, MD, PhD |
A 14-year-old girl is referred to your office for fatigue and arthralgias. While you’re obtaining her past medical history, she divulges that she has had four episodes of bilateral parotitis, each lasting two weeks. An otolaryngologist evaluated her. She lacked sicca symptoms, had a normal complete blood count (CBC), normal inflammatory markers and a negative…
Hrudya Abraham, MD, Eric Warm, MD, FACP, & Avis Ware, MD |
Hair dye products are commonly used by both men and women to enhance youth and beauty and to follow fashion trends. As reported in the medical literature, hair dyes and their ingredients are associated with allergic contact dermatitis. A possible association with joint inflammation has also been recognized. There is literature to support that para-phenylenediamine…
Juan Schmukler, MD, & Theodore Pincus, MD |
The patient medical history is far more prominent in clinical decisions for rheumatology than for many common chronic diseases in which a gold standard biomarker, such as blood pressure or serum glucose, is applicable to diagnosis and management of all individual patients.1 Components of a subjective patient history may be recorded as structured, quantitative, standard,…
ATLANTA—As many rheumatologists will recall, it was not too long ago that psoriatic arthritis was regarded somewhat like “rheumatoid arthritis with a rash,” with little attention paid to the ways in which the unique pathophysiology and manifestations of this entity make it distinct from other forms of inflammatory arthritis. At the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting…
Mark H. Greenberg, MD, RMSK, RhMSUS, Prem Patel, Elijah Mitcham, MD, James W. Fant Jr., MD, & Frank R. Voss, MD |
A 56-year-old automobile mechanic was referred to our rheumatology service by his orthopedist to evaluate left posterior knee pain and swelling that had been present for three months. The patient had undergone bilateral total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) for sports-related osteoarthritis three years before. In addition to the knee pain, the patient described several years of…
Scott Rodriguez, MD, Kenton Powell, MD, & Daniel Albert, MD |
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease that affects approximately 1% of the adult population, and involvement of extra-articular tissue occurs in approximately 40% of patients over their lifetimes.1 RA-associated pericardial disease is an uncommon complication, and surgery is the only definitive therapy—according to current literature. In this report, we present the case of…
Shuwei Wang, MD, Gulam A. Manji, MD, PhD, & Anca D. Askanase, MD |
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) or programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) axes have revolutionized therapy and improved survival in advanced cancers. However, these immune system modulators also lead to immune-related adverse events (IRAEs).1,2 In clinical trials, IRAEs mainly involved the gastrointestinal tract, skin, endocrine glands, liver and lung,…