CHICAGO—At the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in October, the ACR and the ARHP honored a group of distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to rheumatology research, education and patient care. This month, The Rheumatologist speaks with the winners of the ARHP Merit Awards about their individual contributions to advancing rheumatology. You’ll also find interviews…
CHICAGO—Approximately 200,000 health apps are available through major app stores. Some offer real benefits, said Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, director of health services research at Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, Calif. But most, he told attendees at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, are “rubbish.” “They do one or two things only—and generally not well,” he…
CHICAGO—Findings on opioid efficacy, serum urate in osteoarthritis and arthrocentesis headlined the top research of the year discussed in the first half of a session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The second half covered basic science findings, including summaries of new insights into the gender bias in autoimmune diseases, platelet microparticles in scleroderma and…
Varicella-zoster-virus (VZV) reactivation, which can cause patients to develop herpes zoster (i.e., shingles), occurs more frequently in patients with systemic vasculitis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who have received intravenous cyclophosphamide than in otherwise healthy adults, according to a retrospective study published in The Journal of Rheumatology by researchers in France.1 The study also shows…
Primary Sjögren’s syndrome is a systemic autoimmune condition noted for findings of xerostomia, keratoconjunctivitis sicca and focal lymphocyte infiltrate in salivary glands.1 In the initial publications regarding keratoconjunctivitis sicca, Henrik Sjögren, a Swedish ophthalmologist, described a group of 19 women with dry eyes, some of whom had other organ dryness and inflammatory infiltrates.2,3 The syndrome…
As rheumatologists, we have a love-hate relationship with the corticosteroid prednisone, a feeling many of our patients share. It’s our most effective medication to quickly shut down an overactive immune system. When we have a patient with life- or organ-threatening autoimmune disease—severe lupus affecting the kidneys or vasculitis causing hemorrhage in the lungs, for example—large…
A typical patient with a rheumatic disease needs a multifaceted treatment approach to address comorbidities, minimize disability, promote quality of life and improve survival. To achieve these outcomes, rheumatology research has evolved from examining a single treatment to studying the best treatment approaches. Examples of these strategy trials include how to best combine pharmaceutical therapies,…
As of Jan. 1, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will implement several coding and documentation policies to provide immediate burden reduction to providers. The 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule (MPFS) released Nov. 1, 2018, by the CMS contained significant changes to the Medicare Part B coding and documentation policies…
Big data can benefit rheumatology research. But according to experts at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, the data must first be accessible, interoperable and shareable…
In a study, RA patients taking upadactinib monotherapy experienced less pain and morning joint stiffness than methotrexate-treated patients…