My nurse, Joanne, took me aside before I began my next consult. “Room No. 5, breast implant patient. Her lawyer organized the records.” She handed me a hefty three-ring notebook organized by color-coded tabs. “Her attorney called just now,” Joanne raised an eyebrow, “and told me to tell you that, to save time, he highlighted…
When treating adolescent patients who are making the important, sometimes bumpy crossing from a pediatric to an adult rheumatology practice, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. “We have to be flexible on the receiving end when talking with these patients, and flexible with their families, too,” says Peter A. Nigrovic, MD, director of the Center for Adults…
Back in 1999, Afton Hassett, PsyD, attended her first ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, after receiving the suggestion from Leonard Sigal, MD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at Rutgers University’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS). Since 2003, Dr. Sigal has served as a volunteer Clinical Professor at the school. At the time, Dr….
Which came first? The infectious microorganism or a host’s immune resistance against it? Through the millennia, a raging battle has pitted the hordes of infectious agents surrounding us against, arguably, the most complex biologic structure ever created, the finely tuned human immune system. The stakes are high for both sides. For the infectious agent, an…
Established wisdom holds that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) will fare better if their disease is diagnosed as early as possible, and treatments with disease-modifying drugs are started before inflammation can do more damage to joints and tissue. Usually, early diagnosis means spotting the clinical signs of disease, but new research tells us more about…
During an interactive, case-based course at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, participants will develop strategies to help patients manage unique barriers to access to care and adherence…
Are too many patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia? The co-authors of one new study believe that close to 75% of patients who have received a clinical fibromyalgia diagnosis do not meet the 2010 Preliminary American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Criteria for Fibromyalgia.1 They say these patients are false-positive and may be taking treatments they don’t need….
Physicians have been puzzled by the role of benign joint hypermobility syndrome in the development of gastrointestinal disorders and other autonomic symptoms and co-morbidities. However, new research found that benign joint hypermobility syndrome only minimally affects autonomic abnormalities…
Rheumatologists are already familiar with one mosquito-borne virus, chikungunya, whose presentation mimics arthritis. Now, with its recent spread to Puerto Rico and the Southeastern U.S., Zika, another mosquito-borne virus, has become an international public health concern. Sexual transmission of the virus was recently confirmed, expanding the virus’s threat…
SAN FRANCISCO—Lung involvement is a frequent and often life-threatening manifestation of the connective tissue diseases (CTDs) that are commonly encountered by rheumatologists. A variety of rheumatic diseases can affect the lungs, including systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitis, lupus, polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) and Sjögren’s syndrome. A panel presentation on lung disease associated with rheumatic diseases at the…