Checking blood levels of commonly used disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) has gained widespread attention in the rheumatology community, even resulting in a recent guidance document from EULAR for biologics.1 Although a highly useful tool, drug level measurement in rheumatology is not without challenges; many of our drugs violate the basic principles of pharmacology that we…
A 39-year-old woman presented at the emergency department with three weeks of progressive, constant and pulsatile right-sided headache. She said her headache was worse in the morning and when she would bend forward. She reported associated nausea and vomiting. On initial assessment, she did not have any focal neurological deficits. Her medical history was significant for…
Researchers sought to identify predictors of patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis (AAV) who took rituximab for maintenance had a better sustained remission rate through 60 months than those taking azathioprine, according to the latest results from the maintenance of remission using rituximab in systemic ANCA-associated vasculitis (MAINRITSAN) trial, a prospective, randomized trial…
A comparison study of the serious infection burden among patients with lupus found no major differences in patients treated with three separate immunosuppressive drug regimens. Given that serious infections are among the leading causes of hospitalizations and death in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), researchers investigated whether the incident rates differed in patients who…
Panel looks at decision making for treatment of three high-risk patients