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Plaquenil Does Not Protect Lupus Patients from COVID-19 (Best of 2020)
Annals of Rheumatic Disease reports on an analysis of lupus (SLE) patients that shows COVID-19 infection rates were similar between those lupus patients who were taking hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and those not taking HCQ.
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Update on Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis (Best of 2020)
JAMA has published a clinical update of recent studies on GCA. While PET/CT scanning are novel means of demonstrating activity, they have not changed the diagnostic approach to GCA or PMR and although there are no new proven treatment strategies for PMR beyond glucocorticoids, the FDA has approved tocilizumab as a first-line glucocorticoid-sparing agent.
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ACR 2020 Reproductive Guidelines - Medication Use with Pregnancy (Best of 2020)
The ACR has published guidelines to manage reproductive health issues in rheumatic disease (RMD) patients before, during and after pregnancy. In this second excerpt from their guidelines articles, we present recommendations (and good clinical practice statements) for paternal rheumatology medication use by men with RMD and on conventional rheumatology medications and biologic use in pregnancy for women with RMD.
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ACR 2020 Reproductive Guidelines - Lactation Guidance (Best of 2020)
In this third excerpt from the ACR guidelines on managing reproductive health issues in rheumatic disease patients, we present recommendations regarding the use of glucocorticoids and guidance on lactation and medication use post-partum.
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Best of 2020: New EULAR/ACR Classification Criteria for SLE
The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) have jointly developed new classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); prompted by the need for criteria that were both highly sensitive and specific. The net result is improved sensitivity and specificity, but the use of positive ANA requirement along with a longer list of weighted criteria ensures its utility in SLE research (including early or latent SLE), but not clinical practice.
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Best of 2020: ACR 2020 Reproductive Guidelines - Contraception & Counseling
The American College of Rheumatology established a guidelines committee that consisted of both patients, rheumatologists and maternal-fetal health experts. After a a systematic review of the medical literature regarding contraception, assisted reproductive technology, fertility preservation, hormone replacement therapy pregnancy, lactation, and medication use in rheumatic disease patients, they published 12 good practice statements and 131 recommendations for reproductive health care in RMD patients.
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Best of 2020: Infusions in the Time of Coronavirus
After years of bemoaning the challenges of telemedicine, our rheumatology clinic transition entirely to a remote clinic in the space of a week. One of the few good things to come out of this crisis is that we may learn that in-person visits are not as critical as we thought, which may in turn help our specialty’s access issues. The only thing we can’t do remotely, however, are infusions.
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Best of 2020: The COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Registry
What started out as online tweets and sharing newsfeed and case reports, has progressed to the formation of the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance, whose mission is to create an international rheumatology registry of patients affected by the disease in order to better understand the disease and guide clinicians in assessing and treating patients.
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Best of 2020: Rheumatic Disease Drugs and COVID-19
We are in the early stages of trying to limit the morbid and mortal consequences of the corona virus pandemic of 2020. Not surprisingly, the recommendations designed to limit exposure and damage continually highlight the fact that the elderly and immunosuppressed may be amongst the most severely affected should they become infected with this virus.
This has led to a great deal of uncertainty by patients and providers about how rheumatic diseases and their treatments need to be specifically addressed.
Best of 2020: The Nine Lives of Hydroxychloroquine (Updated)
Hydroxychloroquine is one of many medications frequently used in rheumatology practice. Its remarkable versatility is attested by its routine use in lupus, in patients with an autoimmune coagulopathy, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as in those with a low-level inflammatory arthropathy.
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ACIP Recommendations for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Use (including Special Populations)
Following the FDA issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issued interim recommendations for the prevention of COVID-19 in persons aged ≥16 years.
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Benlysta First Agent Approved for Lupus Nephritis
After the successful completion of the BLISS-LN trial and previewing the results at EULAR 2020 and ACR Convergence, GlaxoSmithKline announced yesterday that the FDA has approved belimumab (Benlysta) for use in adults with active lupus nephritis (LN) receiving background/standard therapy.
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Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Filgotinib Bows Out of the RA Race in the USA
Gilead Sciences Inc announced yesterday that it has decided not to pursue the an rheumatoid arthritis (RA) indicatin for its once daily oral JAK inhibitor, filgotinib (also named Jyseleca).
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Consensus Recommendations on JAK Inhibitor Use
A steering committee and task force was convened to develop recommendations for the use of Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors in the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID).
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Lung Cancer Survival With Autoimmune Disease
Lung cancer risk is often increased with inflammation and autoimmune disease; a recent analysis suggests that patients with autoimmune disease do not have worse survival, even though they may have received less than the standard-of-care treatments.
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Four Lifestyle Changes to Prevent Gout
JAMA Open Network reports that reducing four particular risk factors for gout could slash incident cases in men.
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RheumNow Podcast – Stop These COVID Mistakes (12.11.20)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com.
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