Abscesses are typically caused by infections, but some are, instead, sterile. Aseptic abscesses (AAs) are characterized by the same neutrophil-rich histopathology as infectious abscesses; however, they don’t improve with antibiotics. Rather, AAs require treatment with anti-inflammatory medications. Although relatively rare, this phenomenon is important for rheumatologists to recognize given its frequent association with underlying systemic…
I wouldn’t normally look to professional basketball as a model for healthcare, but sometimes answers come from unexpected places. The observation that elite athletes are not like you and me—medically speaking—is not new. In the second century AD, the pontifex maximus in Pergamum recognized this fact and appointed Claudius Galen physician to the gladiators, making…
After two years of special virtual sessions, the AMA House of Delegates will reconvene in person June 10–15. ACR representatives will focus on Medicare physician payment system reform, national drug shortages, funding the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health and more.
ACR and ARP members converged on Capitol Hill in May to urge lawmakers to support legislation related to workforce expansion and patient access to care following training sessions presented by ACR staff dedicated to legislative affairs.
In its COVID-19 treatment guidelines, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) lists several drugs commonly prescribed for patients with rheumatic conditions as potential therapies in those who are hospitalized for COVID-19 and require high-flow oxygen, noninvasive ventilation, intermittent ventilation (IMV) or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), as of Aug. 25, 2021, and current as this is…
HLA-B27 may be a phenotypic expression of axial spondyloarthritis (SpA), according to a large international study. The study found patients with axial SpA who were positive for HLA-B27 had more severe radiographic damage than those who were negative for HLA-B27, and three quarters of study patients with ankylosis spondyloarthritis were HLA-B27 positive.
Many women with inflammatory arthritis stop filling prescriptions for medications to treat their disease during pregnancy, putting themselves at risk of disability and joint damage. Birru Talabi et al. examined why, finding that some women discontinue their medications out of fear, while others receive conflicting advice from providers or misinformation about medication safety.
More than 70 rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals convened in Washington, D.C., to advocate on behalf of legislation that would reduce patients’ out-of-pocket drug costs and help grow America’s healthcare workforce.
The Washington Rheumatology Alliance is focused on creative ways to increase the rheumatology workforce to meet the demand for care, such as instituting clinical rotations in rheumatology for nurse practitioner programs and advocating for pediatric rheumatologist loan forgiveness.
McMahan et al. examined how abnormal gastrointestinal (GI) transit may contribute to GI severity and symptoms in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). About 90% of people with SSc have GI tract involvement, and understanding the connection between GI symptoms, their severity and abnormal GI transit may permit targeted therapeutic approaches for these patients.