New research has linked alendronate to reduced cardiovascular death in hip fracture patients…


New research has linked alendronate to reduced cardiovascular death in hip fracture patients…

When Marilynn “Lynn” Punaro, MD, MACR, isn’t working with medical students, seeing patients in the clinic, participating in translational research or performing leadership duties, she’s enjoying a good book—especially a good mystery. This shouldn’t be a surprise. It was mystery that led Dr. Punaro to a career in pediatric rheumatology more than 30 years ago,…

Retirement is not always the closing chapter of a long career. For some rheumatologists, it’s the start of new, fulfilling storylines. “I never thought I wouldn’t practice medicine until I was physically unable to do it anymore,” says Harry Gewanter, MD, who retired from his Richmond, Va., pediatric rheumatology practice two years ago. Dr. Gewanter…

Anna Helena Jonsson, MD, PhD, & Julia F. Charles, MD, PhD |
Rheumatologists often rely on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of suspected muscular diseases. Here, we describe a case in which unexpected findings on MRI pointed to a diagnosis rarely considered as a mimicker of rheumatologic disease. The Case A 19-year-old man of Middle Eastern descent was admitted to our hospital for evaluation of…

Joey Kim, MD, Navneet Kaur, MD, Phillip Zhang, MD, & Irene Blanco, MD, MS |
Calciphylaxis is a poorly understood and life-threatening ischemic vasculopathy characterized by calcification of the small- and medium-size arteries in the skin, subcutaneous tissue and internal organs, which leads to thrombosis, tissue necrosis and painful skin ulcerations that won’t heal. The disease has a 50–80% mortality rate. Although affected patients typically have end-stage renal disease (ESRD)…

Catherine Kolonko |
A yearlong pilot study that evaluated the safety and efficacy of belimumab in a small group of patients with early diffuse systemic sclerosis found no significant difference in the number of adverse events between those treated with the drug and those who received a placebo. Currently, no drugs are approved specifically for the treatment of…

New research raises questions about the cardiovascular safety of febuxostat for gout patients compared with allopurinol. The study found that although febuxostat was noninferior to allopurinol, febuxostat-treated patients had similar overall rates of major adverse cardiovascular events as allopurinol-treated patients, but had higher rates of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality…

Carlo V. Caballero Uribe, MD, PhD |
The first organization dedicated to fighting rheumatic disease was the International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR), founded in 1928 under the guidance of a Dutch national, Dr. Jan van Breemen. Interest in rheumatology quickly spread throughout the American continent, and the American Association for the Study and Control of Rheumatism met in Cleveland, for what they…

In 1866, Adolf Kussmaul, an internist, and Rudolf Maier, a pathologist, published the classic characterization of what eventually became known as polyarteritis nodosa.1 It was the first scientific clinical characterization of a noninfectious vasculitis. As such, it became a paradigmatic point of contrast to other types of vasculitides that were later described. Their description also…

Zineb Aouhab, MD, RhMSUS |
You see a patient for the first time to establish care for Sjögren’s disease. She complains of dry eyes, dry mouth and diffuse arthralgias. You do not appreciate any synovitis on physical exam. Of note, you are the fourth rheumatologist she has seen during the past year. Toward the end of the clinic visit, she…