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Best of 2021: Potential Birth Defects with Hydroxychloroquine
HCQ is one of the safest meds used in rheumatology, but new claims data suggests a small increase in the risk of malformations associated with first-trimester HCQ use. The March 2021 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology studied the risk of major congenital malformations during the first trimester of pregnancy in women with rheumatic disease taking HCQ.
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Certain Cancers Increased with Autoimmune Diseases
Rheumatologists are well aware that inflammation and immune dysregulation are prime contributors to cancer risk, but do oncologists carry the same impressions? A large study from JAMA Oncology shows that patients with immune-mediated diseases (IMD) have an overall increased risk of cancer, especially in organ-specific immune-mediated diseases.
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Infection or Disease Flare: What Tools Can Help Differentiate?
Differentiation between a flare of disease and infection in patients with autoinflammatory (AI) conditions, where fever is the hallmark, can be extremely difficult. Few studies have evaluated potential differentiators; and having such tools would meet a huge unmet need.
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How Should Patients With Autoimmune Diseases Approach COVID Vaccination?
Healthcare is a personal and individualized relationship between a provider and patient. Each patient is treated according to their particular symptoms and personal health characteristics.
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RheumNow Podcast – I Wanna New Drug.V2 (9.24.2021)
Almost three years ago to the day, I did a podcast entitled, "I wanna new drug." As I go over this week's podcast, I want to say it again. I want a new drug safe enough to use during pregnancy, for PMR, for GVHD, and more. I'm going to cover these, and other topics including lupus, COVID breakthrough infections, and statin use and the risk of RA, as I review the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.
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CRESS – A New Composite Measure for Primary Sjögren's Syndrome
Randomized clinical trials in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) are fraught with fault and inconclusive outcome measures, including the more recently developed EULAR Sjögren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI). There's a new composite endpoint outcome for RCTs in pSS, called the Composite of Relevant Endpoints for Sjögren's Syndrome (CRESS).
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Potential Birth Defects with Hydroxychloroquine
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is one of the safest meds used in rheumatology, but there is new claims data suggesting a small increase in the risk of malformations associated with first-trimester HCQ use.
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Do B-cell targeted therapies still have a place for the treatment of Sjogren’s?
B-cells play a major role in the pathogenesis of primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS) through antibody-dependent and antibody-independent functions, as well as evident by progression to B-cell malignancies/lymphoma. Hence, targeting B-cell is attractive. Despite efficacy of B-cell depleting therapy with rituximab in Phase II trials and case series, it failed to meet its primary endpoint when investigated in two Phase III trials. It is worth noting that the primary endpoint used in both trials was a subjective measure. Post-hoc analyses however showed greater improvement in objective measures such as salivary flow rate and salivary gland ultrasound score in RTX-treated group vs placebo.
Therefore, do B-cell targeted therapies still have a place for the treatment of pSS?
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Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Meral K. El Ramahi, MD MeralElRamahiMD ( View Tweet)
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