SAN DIEGO—At ACR Convergence 2023, Philip Seo, MD, MHS, presented an overview of clinical updates in rheumatology from the past year.
![](https://www.the-rheumatologist.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/SEO-philip-150x150.jpg)
SAN DIEGO—At ACR Convergence 2023, Philip Seo, MD, MHS, presented an overview of clinical updates in rheumatology from the past year.
SAN DIEGO—Panelists at ACR Convergence 2023 debate the merits of IL-6 inhibitors vs. glucocorticoids for the initial treatment of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR).
Philip Seo, MD, MHS |
SAN DIEGO—The large vessel vasculitides, including Takayasu’s arteritis and giant cell arteritis, experienced a surge of interest at ACR Convergence 2023. Here, we highlight important points from 10 of the studies presented at this conference.
Sarilumab is now FDA approved to treat adults with polymyalgia rheumatica who have had an inadequate response to glucocorticoids or who cannot tolerate a glucocorticoid taper. This new indication is based on results from the multicenter, phase 3 SAPHYR trial.
First described in 1888, polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a chronic inflammatory condition that almost exclusively affects individuals older than 50.1 Until this week, no therapies for PMR had been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).2 Tuesday, Sanofi announced sarilumab (Kevzara) has been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for the…
The Plenary III Session reviewed the results of the SAPHYR trial of sarilumab in PMR patients, as well as the WE-CAN study on the impact of a community-level diet & exercise program on knee pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
EULAR 2022 (VIRTUAL)—The pace of scientific progress in research medicine is incredible and seems to only accelerate with time. Thus, the 2022 Congress of the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) session on late-breaking abstracts fittingly captured the excitement and timeliness of a number of research projects that have just recently been completed and…
Linda Carroll (with a commentary from rheumatologist Eric Matteson, MD) |
(Reuters Health)—In a case series report, researchers describe rapid symptom improvement in three patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) when high glucose levels were brought down. After glucose was controlled, patients experienced improvement in both symptoms and laboratory measures of PMR without glucocorticoid administration or an increase in glucocorticoid dosage, according to the report in the…
Erin Hammett, DO, & Edward Skol, MD |
Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is an inflammatory rheumatic condition characterized by pain and morning stiffness at the neck, shoulders and hip girdle. It can be associated with giant cell arteritis (GCA); in fact, the two disorders may represent a continuum of the same disease process. This case describes a patient who initially refused treatment for PMR…
Patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) or peripheral arthritis may require extra vigilance during treatment because of a suspected link to giant cell arteritis (GCA) and, potentially, permanent vision loss. “Development of giant cell arteritis after treating polymyalgia or peripheral arthritis: a retrospective case-control study,” a March 2018 study published in The Journal of Rheumatology, suggests…