Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease associated with erosive destruction of diarthrodial joints. Patients who are seropositive are more prone to developing extra-articular manifestations, such as rheumatoid lung, rheumatoid nodules and others. With the development of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), the incidence and severity of these extra-articular manifestations has declined. Below, we describe…
In recent years, scientists and clinicians have learned a great deal about autoantibodies occurring in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs). These new discoveries have reshaped our understanding of distinct clinical phenoÂtypes in IIMs. Scientists continue to learn more about how these autoÂantibodies shape pathophysiology, diagnosis, disease monitoring, prognosis and optimum treatment. Moving forward, these autoantibodies will…
Abatacept Approved for Adult PsA On June 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved abatacept (Orencia) to treat adults with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA).1 Abatacept is available as both an intravenous formulation and a subcutaneous injection.2 The approval was based on results of two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, PsA-I and PsA-II, during which…
Patients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience on average double the risk of developing malignant lymphoma when compared with the general population. With the major changes in RA treatment taking place over the past decade, has there been a reduction in the risk of lymphoma in this population? Researchers from the Karolinska Institute…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Tofacitinib begun two to three weeks after live zoster vaccination does not impair immunogenicity, and vaccination appears to be safe in patients with pre-existing varicella zoster virus (VZV) immunity, researchers report. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are about twice as likely as healthy adults to develop herpes zoster, or shingles, and the…
Elderly patients have unique requirements with regard to treatment for pain, rheumatic disease and other ailments. Collaboration between rheumatologists, geriatricians and primary care physicians is essential to avoid unnecessary interventions and improve care for this patient population…
When it was created in 1982, the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center comprised one-and-a-half rheumatologists: its founder, Lynell W. Klassen, MD, MACR, and Gerald Moore, MD, who later received formal training at the NIH and now serves as senior associate dean for academic affairs. Thirty-five years later, the…
The patient was a 48-year-old woman who saw her primary care physician for a flu-like illness three months prior to admission. Her symptoms initially improved, but recurred one month later; she was treated symptomatically, and again symptoms resolved. Two months later, she presented to an outside facility’s emergency department with fever to 103ºF, with associated…
A 66-year-old woman returns to the office for a follow-up visit. She is seen by the physician assistant (PA) for her rheumatoid arthritis. She is experiencing burning pain in her right knee, and she reports that after going for her morning walk, she rates the pain at a 6 on a scale of 10. She…
The FDA has approved abatacept to treat adults with active psoriatic arthritis. In clinical trials, the treatment has proved effective in both intravenous and subcutaneous forms…