Interdisciplinary collaboration is proving valuable to address bio-psycho-social pain management in pediatric patients at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles…
CHICAGO—The world of rheumatology is beginning to harness the promise of the microbiome, with evidence showing components of the gut may help predict response to medication and may be manipulated to improve how well a treatment works, said Jose Scher, MD, at the 2019 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium, held April 5–7. “We can truly exploit…
CHICAGO—Rheumatologists often come to Brian Schwartz, MD, associate professor of medicine and vice chief for clinical affairs in the Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, with a concern: A patient on immunosuppression has a family member who needs a live vaccine, but the patient may be vulnerable to the vaccine’s effects. Should…
What attracts physicians to a career in rheumatology? Traditionally, the foundation of clinical training at both the medical student and house staff level is based on inpatient services. There are many reasons for this, predominantly revolving around access to patients available for teaching. The result: Trainees are predominantly exposed to a group of conditions that…
A 52-year-old man living in greater Boston with a history of hypertension presented at our rheumatology clinic with bilateral knee pain and swelling. He had been in his usual state of health until four months earlier when he developed right knee pain and swelling without an incipient trauma, which did not improve with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory…
A five-year study in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis found drug-induced disease remission did not persist once adalimumab was stopped after long-term treatment.
Adding certolizumab pegol to background medication is better than adding a placebo for patients with active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis, according to a new study…
Take the challenge. C—When an insurance carrier requests the medical record for a service performed, the practice should send all pertinent information to support the medical necessity of that service. For example, if the drug requires that a patient first be tested for tuberculosis and the patient should be on methotrexate or leflunomide, the note…
A study comparing seven biologic DMARDs in RA patients aged 65 years and older found abatacept had the highest retention rate and the lowest discontinuation rate…
New research by Jose Scher, MD, discussed during the 2019 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium, demonstrated how clinicians may be able to modify aspects of the microbiome to predict and boost a patient’s treatment response…