In light of new challenges to individuals’ reproductive rights and the known challenges of clinical management of rheumatic disease patients during pregnancy, we review the current state of reproductive rheumatology and the management of patients with rheumatic disease during pregnancy.
Hip and knee replacements—despite advancement in treatments for rheumatic diseases, some patients will still need to undergo these surgeries. Here are insights into the considerations, costs and complications of total joint arthroplasty.
Although the diagnosis and treatment of gout are sometimes straightforward, practitioners encounter challenges in patients with atypical presentations, as well as those with medically complex situations or refractory disease. Here, gout experts share insights into some of these scenarios. Flare in Hospitalized Patients When not contraindicated, the 2020 ACR Guideline for the Management of Gout…
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…
Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is an anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis typically characterized by asthma, peripheral eosinophilia and medium- to small-vessel necrotizing vasculitis. Cutaneous manifestations in EGPA are diverse. Palpable purpura is the most common presentation, but urticaria, erythematous macules and papules, livedo reticularis, digital necrosis and cutaneous nodules have also been described.1 Non-hemorrhagic bullae…
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…
Doebl et al. compared the effect of symptoms and the healthcare use of people with fibromyalgia with those who fulfilled the criteria for fibromyalgia but had not been diagnosed and those with chronic pain. They found patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia reported the poorest healthcare experiences and were more likely than other study participants to be unemployed due to health issues. Their findings reveal an urgent need exists for a model of care for patients with fibromyalgia.
The growing rheumatologist workforce shortage has loomed over the profession, threatening to undercut the delivery of care to the increasing number of patients with rheumatic conditions. “The workforce shortage is an existential threat to the field of rheumatology and to the care we deliver to our patients,” says ACR President Kenneth Saag, MD, who lauded…
After months of hard work—and with insightful input from many ACR/ARP members, staff, committees and the Board of Directors—we are pleased to introduce the ACR’s 2022–27 strategic plan. This plan sets the stage for our numerous activities in the next few years and cultivates innovational approaches to support our diverse membership. This new plan will…
On Dec. 27, 2017, RaDonda Vaught killed Charlene Murphey, allegedly. Ms. Murphey was a lifelong resident of Gallatin, a suburb of Nashville, Tenn. She was well known from having worked at the local Walmart for 24 years, before she retired in 2012, when she was 65 years old.1 On Dec. 24, 2017, she was helping…