Despite our best efforts and modern interventions, we still have patients in the intensive care unit with organ failure. Although renal failure can be mitigated by dialysis, patients with cardiac or respiratory failure secondary to active autoimmune disease raise difficult clinical and ethical issues. Two recent cases, both with organ failure, led us to examine…
Joan M. Von Feldt, MD, MSEd, loves fashion—everything from the feel of natural fabrics and the fit of a well-crafted garment to mixing and matching colors and textures. As a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and editor in chief of the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, she enjoys being well dressed and, like…
SAN DIEGO—A hormone secreted by the parathyroid gland is both a builder and a destroyer of bone in humans, with important implications for a variety of conditions treated by rheumatologists. In the Oscar Gluck, MD, Memorial Lecture at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting Nov. 3–8, Henry Kronenberg, MD, chief of the Endocrine Division at Massachusetts…
SAN DIEGO—The Next Accreditation System, the newest process for evaluating medical residency and fellowship programs and their participants, including future rheumatologists, was implemented in 2014 by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The system introduced specialty-specific milestones designed to reflect significant points in professional development. Milestones are defined by ACGME as a rubric…
SAN DIEGO—At the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting this past November, three researchers discussed the latest ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) research, including studies on AAV pathogenesis, therapies and remission maintenance. In the Philip Hench, MD, Memorial Lecture, J. Charles Jennette, MD, chair in pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel…
In November 2017, I went to Lucknow, India, where I would spend my time as an exchange fellow at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPIMS) as part of the ACR International Visiting Fellows Exchange Program. Where I Come From I completed my medical degree at Mahatma Gandhi Missions Medical College, Navi Mumbai…
Rheumatologists spend so many years treating the same patients, sometimes they start to feel like family. But for some doctors, it’s more than a feeling. The specialty attracts its fair share of relatives who can compare rheumatic notes, discuss complex cases and provide a built-in resource for advice. Brothers. Cousins. Fathers and daughters. In-laws. Husband…
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can present in many ways and can be difficult to diagnose. Its association with celiac sprue has been only rarely documented, but has appeared in several case reports. When presenting together, it can be difficult to distinguish the underlying disease, because SLE itself has been known to cause malabsorption. This case…
Various drugs are known to cause musculoskeletal symptoms, such as arthralgias, myalgias, drug-induced lupus and serum sickness.1 In the rheumatology world, the most commonly recognized drugs that can cause musculoskeletal symptoms are hydralazine, minocycline, fluoroquinolones and, recently, the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitor class of medications. Although beta blockers also have a noted side effect…
TEP In February, Lisa Gale Suter, MD, joined the Technical Expert Panel (TEP) for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Measure Development Plan, supporting the transition to the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Models (APMs). She was nominated to serve in this role by the ACR. The panel comprises…