A 26-year-old woman presented to our emergency department (ED) with intermittent fevers, nausea and vomiting. She had a past medical history of well-controlled, anti-nuclear antibody positive and rheumatoid factor negative polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pJIA) and Crohn’s disease. Her maintenance treatment consisted of monthly intravenous infliximab, 10 mg of oral methotrexate weekly and 20 mg…
A 44-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with bifrontal headaches that had started approximately one month earlier. She was diagnosed with migraines and discharged home. Three days later, the patient returned to the emergency department upon recurrence of her headaches, and this time she also reported abnormal leg movements. A computerized tomography (CT) scan…
A 17-year-old woman presents with chronic finger pain experienced over six months that is worse in the mornings. On physical exam, the patient has no joint swelling, pain on range of motion or limitation of range of motion in any of her finger joints. She has a tender, subcutaneous, firm, flesh-colored nodule on the lateral…
James Franklin Fries was born on Aug. 25, 1938, in Normal, Ill. His mother taught middle school English and his father was a college business professor. Jim graduated from Stanford University in 1960 with a major in philosophy, and received his MD at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in 1964. He pursued internal medicine and rheumatology…
COVID-19 vaccination, treatments for rheumatic disease and more—the Late-Breaking Abstracts session of ACR Convergence 2021 highlighted six studies with implications for rheumatology.
At an ACR COVID-19 town hall on COVID-19, infectious disease experts discussed the most up-to-datecurrent information on pre- and post-exposure monoclonal antibody therapy, oral antivirals and vaccines for rheumatology patients.
ACR CONVERGENCE 2021—Rheumatology patients who test positive for COVID-19 would benefit from early use of monoclonal antibodies, said Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth), Houston, in a session about effective treatment options for COVID-19. Acknowledging that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has already…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2021—Many of the effects of childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) and vasculitis carry into adulthood and present adult rheumatologists with key differences in managing these patients after their transition from a pediatric to an adult provider. “The young adult with childhood-onset lupus is similar in many ways to adults with lupus, but there…
Mara L. Becker, MD, MSCE, discusses how important it is to effectively treat juvenile idiopathic arthritis at an early stage to improve long-term outcomes in adulthood.
ACR CONVERGENCE 2021—Hematologic abnormalities are common in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), whether due to SLE itself or something else. As rheumatology professionals, we are routinely challenged by the management of cytopenias in our SLE patients. At the ACR’s annual meeting in 2021, two hematologists shared expert advice regarding common hematologic manifestations of SLE. Michael B….