Some have opined, cynically, that transformative changes will not come to medical education and training, and to healthcare, until pigs fly. Well, in 2009–10, “swine flu,” and now we are in the midst of an unprecedented and disruptive pandemic, affecting virtually all aspects of our lives, including fellowships.1 As someone who started a rheumatology fellowship…
Ironically, chronic exposure to minocycline has also been associated with a variety of autoimmune syndromes, including drug-induced lupus, autoimmune hepatitis, serum sickness and vasculitis.1 Minocycline is associated with an 8.5-fold increased risk of drug-induced lupus.2 Minocycline and nitrofurantoin are implicated in 90% of cases of drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis.3 Minocycline-induced vasculitis is much less common and,…
The SELECT-EARLY MTX-controlled trial examined the safety and efficacy of upadacitinib, a potent, reversible jakinib, as monotherapy in patients with moderately to highly active RA and poor prognostic features who are either naive for or have limited exposure to methotrexate.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common autoimmune inflammatory arthritis in adults. In June 2021, the ACR released an updated guideline for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The guideline underscores the role of methotrexate as a cornerstone therapy and emphasizes minimizing glucocorticoids, when possible. Meanwhile, the most recent research in RA is explored by expert…
This summer, the FDA rejected a new drug application for filgotinib to treat RA in the U.S., but a European Medicines Agency committee issued a positive opinion, moving filgotinib closer to authorized use in the E.U.
Editor’s note: EULAR 2020, the annual European Congress of Rheumatology, which was originally scheduled to be held in Frankfurt, Germany, starting June 3, was moved to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. EULAR 2020 e-CONGRESS—Although reducing medications is a reasonable option for some patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)—reducing cost and giving them a…
Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a heterogeneous group of lung parenchymal disorders that share several clinical, radiologic and histopathologic features, and are therefore grouped together.1 ILD can occur in association with most rheumatic connective tissue diseases (CTDs), but patients with systemic sclerosis, polymyositis, dermatomyositis and rheumatoid arthritis have the highest risk of developing ILD.2 A…
In a December 2019 editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the implications of diagnostic error were explored through the story of two parents, both medical professionals, who sought a diagnosis for their sick child.1 Their son saw specialist after specialist and underwent repeated procedures, but for years was left without an explanation…
For some patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, regular repeated treatment with rituximab may prevent disease flare, according to a study from Cassia et al.
During the 2020 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium, Zoltán Szekanecz, MD, PhD, addressed the risks of vascular disease and how to manage them in patients with rheumatic diseases.