ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—Held Nov. 5–9, the ACR’s first fully virtual annual meeting is a wrap, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to catch the highlights. Dozens of research abstracts on various aspects of lupus were presented during the fully virtual event, and David S. Pisetsky, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and immunology at Duke…
Nancy Bates Allen, MD, now professor emeritus, Duke University Medical School, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Durham, N.C., created a legacy of clinical care, clinical research, advocacy for women and collegial respect during her 42-year career at Duke. David S. Caldwell, MD, FACP, FACR, associate professor of medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, says, “[I’m]…
A 67–year-old white woman with primary Raynaud’s phenomenon presented following a week of progressively worsening shortness of breath, dry cough and generalized malaise. An avid tennis player, she first noticed dyspnea while playing, but a few days later grew short of breath even at rest. She went to an urgent care center, where a computed…
The diagnosis of rheumatic diseases requires the exclusion of other systemic disorders. Infection, hematologic conditions, malignancies and some drugs may all lead to syndromes that closely mimic rheumatic diseases, which may lead to diagnostic delays. Idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) is a heterogeneous group of lymphoproliferative diseases (LPDs) characterized by systemic inflammatory manifestations.1,2 As with…
A 61-year-old Caucasian woman with a history of seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was hospitalized for a several-month history of progressively worsening left ankle pain and swelling. She had been unable to bear weight on her left leg for several days and did not notice improvement in symptoms with 20 mg of prednisone daily, which she…
ACR BEYOND LIVE—Among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), lupus nephritis remains one of the leading causes of mortality, and patients with both SLE and end-stage renal disease demonstrate standardized mortality ratios higher than 60 times that of patients with SLE who have normal kidney function.1 Although the ACR Guidelines for Screening, Treatment, and Management…
ACR BEYOND LIVE—A moonshot concept in rheumatology has long been centered on the question of whether autoimmune disease can be cured. A less frequently posed inquiry, albeit equally important, is: Can the onset of autoimmune disease be prevented in the first place? At the 2020 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium, Kevin Deane, MD, PhD, associate professor…
As useful stand-ins for biologics targeting a range of inflammatory diseases, biosimilars have made significant inroads across Europe as less expensive alternatives. Denmark, for example, realized a cost savings of 64% after instituting a mandatory national switch from the originator infliximab to its biosimilar counterpart. In the U.S., however, a considerably smaller fraction of rheumatologists…
SNOWMASS VILLAGE, COLO.—The study of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis (AAV) is ongoing, and research results should help improve treatment for this patient population. Key trials and therapeutic options were discussed at the 2020 ACR Winter Symposium during the session, Update on the Treatment of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis, by Peter A. Merkel, MD, MPH, chief of…
Clinically amyotrophic dermatomyositis (CADM), a subset of dermatomyositis (DM), is a rare autoimmune disease characterized by typical DM cutaneous findings (e.g., heliotrope rash, Gottron papules, Gottron sign) without evidence of myositis.1 The incidence of DM and CADM is approximately 9.63 per 1 million people and 2.08 per 1 million people, respectively.2 The association with development…