Citing safety concerns, the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee voted against recommending approval of sirukumab for treating adults with RA…

Citing safety concerns, the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee voted against recommending approval of sirukumab for treating adults with RA…
Despite the innovations of new biologics and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, a large unmet need remains for patients with rheumatic autoimmune disease. Treatment remains limited for many conditions, including for conditions with a dim prognosis, such as systemic sclerosis.1 One promising treatment avenue is hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). Here, we provide background on HSCT for severe…
Anita Laloo, MB, BS, MPH, German Pihan, MD, & Robert H. Shmerling, MD |
The patient was a 48-year-old woman who saw her primary care physician for a flu-like illness three months prior to admission. Her symptoms initially improved, but recurred one month later; she was treated symptomatically, and again symptoms resolved. Two months later, she presented to an outside facility’s emergency department with fever to 103ºF, with associated…
Marie D. Westby, PT, PhD, & Afton L. Hassett, PsyD |
Editor’s note: The new Pillar Talk column is developed by the ARHP Executive Committee in an effort to share information about ongoing activities related to our four pillars: Education, Practice, Research and Advocacy. The ARHP Practice Committee is committed to addressing the current needs and evolving practice opportunities for health professionals working in rheumatology. A…
CHICAGO—Delia Chiaramonte, MD, associate director of education at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, presented the newest thinking on pain to a gathering of rheumatologists at the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in April. She began by explaining that pain is more than nociception. Nociception stimulates nerves to…
CHICAGO—Caryn A. Libbey, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, described the evolving in our understanding of amyloid at the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in April. Amyloidosis is a rare disease that is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. “Even though this disease has been around for 150 years, I still consider it…
Santosh Bhusal, MD, with Terence W. Starz, MD, on behalf of the ARHP Practice Committee |
“I was hoping for good news, but now I am worried,” was the response of a 29-year-old patient when I suggested an oncology referral. He was four months into treatment of dermatomyositis and had experienced significant improvement of his muscle strength, CPK levels and interstitial pneumonitis, but a follow-up CT scan showed that his spleen…
This year the ARHP Clinical Focus Course brings together experts in the field to provide an interprofessional approach to the management of systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to improve patient outcomes. The daylong course, titled Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Taming the Wolf—Salient Lessons from Practice and Research, which is offered on Nov. 4, will provide a case-based…
The levels of service within an evaluation and management (E/M) visit are based on the documentation of key components, which include history, physical examination and medical decision making. The history component is comparable to telling a story and should include a beginning and some form of development to adequately describe the patient’s presenting problem. To…
Your home & your health: Does geography impact medicine? Does it matter whether a region is surrounded by large bodies of water, encircled by towering mountain peaks or that its residents share a common ancestry? Consider Switzerland, a nation with a highly developed economy replete with advanced technological and medical infrastructure. Despite these advantages, less…