ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—At the ACR’s fully virtual annual meeting on Saturday, Nov. 7, Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, delivered a special lecture on COVID-19, from virology to therapy to vaccine development. Novel Coronavirus, Familiar Vectors When Chinese physicians first reported infections by what…
A recently developed frailty index may be a valuable way to quantify vulnerability in patients with systemic lupus erytheÂmatosus (SLE), according to a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.1 When evaluating SLE, physicians consider a patient’s disease activity, organ damage and health-related quality of life. The Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC)/ACR Damage Index (SDI)…
Attendees at the daylong workshop will learn about key evaluation and management code changes coming in 2021 that affect rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals.
Physical inactivity significantly affects disease burden and reduces the overall quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), according to a study from Losina et al. The researchers calculated the total quality-adjusted life-years lost for U.S. patients with OA due to inactivity.
Here’s a taste of what participants in this year’s virtual annual meeting, ACR Convergence 2020, will have access to during Down & Dirty 30, four 30-minute sessions designed to provide refreshers on specific rheumatology-related topics.
Rhabdomyolysis is a clinical syndrome characterized by muscle tissue necrosis and release of intramuscular components into the circulation. Typical manifestations include muscle pain and myoglobinuria, causing dark urine. Serum creatinine kinase (CK) enzyme levels are usually markedly elevated. Severity can range from muscle enzyme elevation in the serum of an otherwise asymptomatic patient to extremely…
A 27-year-old, left-handed man was referred to our ultrasound clinic for left elbow pain. History The patient had been a pitcher on a Minor League Baseball team. Two years before, he developed sudden, severe medial elbow pain while pitching in a game. The pain was associated with some tingling down the left medial forearm. The…
I should have paid more attention in medical school. If I had, I might have remembered enough about basic pathophysiology to know why everyone was suddenly pulling their patients off of lisinopril. For those of you who need a quick primer: When the pressure in the renal artery drops, the kidney secretes renin. Working together,…
Researchers examined the benefits of two acupressure approaches for treating low back pain, finding that patients who self-administered stimulating acupressure experienced a significant decrease in fatigue associated with their chronic pain…
Community rheumatology practices are confronting a significant financial fallout from stay-at-home orders and fears that keep patients at home, as well as reimbursement challenges.