Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease characterized by noncaseating granulomas in affected tissues, mostly involving the lungs and lymph nodes.1,2 The etiology of sarcoidosis remains unknown but is thought to be due to an inflammatory response to an antigen exposure in genetically predisposed individuals.1 Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF‑α), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, plays an essential role in…
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…
Chambers et al. found no evidence of an increased risk of major structural birth defects nor any increase in a wide range of other pregnancy outcomes attributable to prenatal exposure to hydroxychloroquine.
At the 17th Annual Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of the Rheumatic Diseases meeting at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Atul Deodhar, MD, discussed ankylosing spondylitis and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis & clarified common misconceptions about these conditions.
Pulmonary nodules are comÂmon; most are benign, but the differential diagnosis is broad and includes life-threatening possibilities.1 Our patient is a former smoker who has a history of a complex autoimmune disease and multiple pulmonary nodules. This case was challenging, but clinical, radiographic and histologic clues helped lead to the correct diagnosis. Case Presentation The…
Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a systemic necrotizing vasculitis that typically affects medium-sized muscular arteries. The clinical subsets of PAN are idiopathic, generalized, secondary hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated and cutaneous PAN. These clinical subsets are important because of their therapeutic implications. Virtually any organ system can be affected in generalized PAN, but this vasculitis tends…
Research has revealed how the prevalence of anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) positivity has changed over the past 25 years, raising questions about the role of ANA in autoimmunity and disease.
Over the past few years, biosimilars and other new drugs have been introduced to treat rheumatic illnesses. Some of the conditions we treat have numerous drug options; others have few or only off-label options. This series, Rheumatology Drugs at a Glance, provides streamlined information on the administration of biologic, biosimilar and other medications used to…
In February A&R, Penso et al. reported on the results of their study, which explored whether patients with psoriasis, PsA and AS have a higher risk of developing IBD when treated with an IL-17 inhibitor compared with apremilast, a phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor, or etanercept, a TNF inhibitor.
In a study, patients with new-onset polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) who were treated with subcutaneous tocilizumab were more likely to achieve sustained, glucocorticoid-free remission than patients who received placebo.