Defining Refractory Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Researchers from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics (BSRBR) set out to define under what circumstances will rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients manifest biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) refractory disease.

Neuropathic Like Knee Pain

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Fernandez and colleagues have shed further light on a significant subset of patients with knee pain - specifically, those with neuropathic like knee pain (NKP) that includes those with knee pain modified by central and peripheral neurologic dysfunction.

RheumNow Week in Review – I Wanna New Drug (9.28.18)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week on RheumNow.com, including news on inappropriate opioids, pre-clinical RA treatment, DMARDs in Gout, the decline of arthroscopy, and a pain in the mouth.

Venous Thromboembolism Increased with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Not with TNF Inhibition

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Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common adverse event throughout medicine and includes both pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).   The cost of diagnosing a thromboembolic event is approximately $4000 - $5550, while the annual cost of treating one case of VTE is betwe

CDC: 2017 Record Number of Influenza Deaths

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The CDC reports that in 2017, influenza killed and hospitalized more people in the United States than any other year in the last few decades.

What Works in Undifferentiated Arthritis Patients

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Complementary Therapies in Psoriasis

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A systematic review in Archives of Dermatology suggests that among complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, the most effective are indigo naturalis, curcumin, dietary modification, meditation, and acupuncture.

Knee Arthroscopic Surgeries on the Decline

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A JAMA Internal Medicine report has shown that the rate of arthroscopic surgery has significantly declined, in an era when arthroplasty and the incidence of osteoarthritis (OA) has increased.

Fractures May Lead to Systemic Bone Loss

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Researchers at the University of California - Davis have shown that elderly women who had an upper body fracture or multiple fractures had more loss of hip density compared to those who who did not fracture. Systemic bone loss may increase the risk of future fractures. 

Ustekinumab May be Effective in Lupus

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Ronald F van Vollenhoven and colleagues have reported in Lancet that ustekinumab (UST), an interleukin-12 and -23 inhibitor, when added to usual therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, was shown to be superior to placebo at improving clinical efficacy and laboratory param

RheumNow Week in Review – RheumNow Live Meeting Announcement (9.21.18)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and updates from the past week on RheumNow.

Maastricht Study Links Dairy Intake to Osteoarthritis

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The Maastricht study explored the potential association between dairy consumption and knee osteoarthritis (OA), and found that higher intake of full-fat dairy and Dutch cheese - but not milk - was significantly associated with the lower risk of knee OA.

Update on Myositis

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The ACR/ARHP 2018 national meeting in Chicago presented us with opportunities to learn more about inflammatory myositis. A particularly interesting lecture was HOT topics in myositis. There were a few abstracts on MDA-5 related disease and a few on new or repurposed medications for dermatomyositis which will be covered here.

Unproven But Profitable Stem Cell Clinics

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Stem cell clinics are popular and proliferating as they are largely a cash business and fall outside of FDA regulatory control. In lieu of scientific proof, most advocates use patient testimonials and the placebo effect to back up their claims.

Treat-to-Target in RA: No Increase in AEs

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Implementing a treat-to-target approach for the care of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not result in an increase in adverse events or resource use, a post-hoc analysis of a randomized trial showed.

An Association between GCA and IBD ?

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A population based analysis from Israel suggests that giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients may be at increased risk for  inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) mainly target.

FDA's Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Finalized

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In response to the growing opioid crisis, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the final Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), designed to reduce the risk of abuse, misuse, addiction, overdose, and deaths due to prescription opioid analgesics.

Breast Implant Study: More Worries or Not?

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The Annals of Surgery reports on an anlaysis of FDA-mandated postmarket studies, including nearly 100,000 breast implant pprocedures, that showed silicone implants to be associated with higher rates of  Sjögren's syndrome, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, stillbirth, and melanoma.

Negotiation Skills for Rheumatologists

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Physicians as a group are trained to have excellent clinical skills, but the difference between an average and extremely successful physician often comes down to factors outside of their ability to provide clinical care.