Where can patients obtain more information about their diagnoses and prescription drugs, and answers to the assortment of questions they have about living with a chronic disease once they leave the rheumatologist office? Patient education materials can be found in many places on the internet, but those looking for answers may need a helping hand…
In a second response letter, the FDA has cited the onset and duration of intravenous meloxicam, a non-opioid pain treatment, as concerns that it fails to meet prescriber expectations…
(Reuters)—Jacobus Pharmaceutical Co Inc on Monday won U.S. approval for the first drug to treat children with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder. The drug, Ruzurgi (amifampridine), was approved for use in patients ages 6–17, the according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS), which affects about three people…
CHICAGO—Rheumatology healthcare providers should embrace collaborative approaches to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain in older adult patients, including models of care that involve multiple providers, patients and their caregivers. That was the message delivered by two speakers in the Interdisciplinary Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Older Adults session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. “As…
CHICAGO—At Hot Topics in Myositis, a session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, three experts discussed new classification criteria for idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) and offered practical primers on overlap myositis conditions and inclusion body myositis (IBM). New Myositis Classification Criteria After a 10-year development process, the new EULAR/ACR Classification Criteria for Adult and Juvenile…
SEATTLE—At the first regional vasculitis patient conference ever held in the Pacific Northwest, a panoramic view of Mt. Rainier on a clear January morning set the tone for a day of optimistic talks about recent successes against the various forms of blood vessel inflammation. One attendee at the Jan. 12 conference, sponsored by the Vasculitis…
CHICAGO—At the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, rheumatologist project volunteers for the ACR’s Collaborative Initiatives talked about their efforts to educate primary-care providers, patients and families in their communities about systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Their goal is to facilitate timely diagnosis and treatment of lupus, especially in underserved communities. Health Disparities Health disparities, or differences in health…
CHICAGO—David A. Isenberg, MD, academic director of rheumatology, University College London, presented the ACR Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) State-of-the-Art Symposium at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. Dr. Isenberg began by noting lupus is now widely covered in the news, but singer Selena Gomez has probably done the most to increase awareness of the disease; her…
CHICAGO—Can non-drug interventions improve the lives of patients with scleroderma? Janet L. Poole, PhD, OTR/L, professor and director of the Occupational Therapy Graduate Program of the School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, addressed this question when she presented the ARHP Distinguished Lecture at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. She discussed the challenges faced…
CHICAGO—Physicians from the University of Chicago presented an intriguing case of Sweet’s syndrome for the Clinical Pathological Conference during the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. Pankti Reid, MD, MPH, a rheumatology fellow at the University of Chicago, introduced the case of a white man who, in 2017, came under the care of the University of Chicago….