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New Scoring System Predicts 1 year survival in Hip Fracture Patients
A prospective study was conducted in Germany to establish predictors of 1 year survival after a hip fracture in elderly people.
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Secukinumab Shows Efficacy in Two Ankylosing Spondylitis Trials
NEJM has published the results of two studies wherein IL-17 inhibition with secukinumab (SEC) was shown to be effective in patients with anklylosing spondylitis.
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Increased Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Ankylosing Spondylitis
Although ankylosing spondylitis affects a predominantly male population, the ratio of men to women has declined from 9-10:1 in earlier studies to more recent estimates of 2-3:1 (F:M).
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Famous Rheumatologist Quotes – Part II
Last month, many rheumatologists offered up their favorite quotes. Most of these were on medicine, medical skills, some pertained to rheumatology and others were axioms for life.
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CDC Reports Increasing Narcotic Deaths
A recent Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC reviewed the epidemic of drug overdose (poisoning) deaths in the USA.
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Tofacitinib Shows Promise in Alopecia, Eczema and Vitiligo
Tofacitinib has been approved for use in rheumatoid arthritis.
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DSB: Managing Methotrexate Toxicity (Best of 2015: #1)
Methotrexate was first introduced in 1955 for leukemia and in 1986 became FDA approved for the treatment of adults with severe, active, rheumatoid arthritis or children with active polyarticular-course juvenile RA.
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2015 ACR RA Guidelines Released– Finally! (Best of 2015: #2)
ACR 2015 RA treatment guidelines were published yesterday, nearly a year after they were preliminarily presented at the 2014 ACR meeting in Boston. After a year of review and revision these have been posted.
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The Dying Hospital Consult (Best of 2015)
Hospital consults – “nobody goes there anymore”, and not because it’s too crowded (a quote from the late great Yogi Berra), but rather because it’s a poor investment of time and resources.
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The History of Citrullination (Best of 2015)
1998 marked the introduction of citrulline as a unique target in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. The hallmark article by Schellekens et al in the Journal of Clinical Investigation has since been cited over 500 times. Dr.
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A Rheumatology State of Mind (Best of 2015)
A 2013 study reported that people from Denmark were the happiest. Reasons were postulated, but it was suggested it was because their expectations were so low.
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How I Choose Biologics (Best of 2015)
Clinical decision-making, occurring at the intersection of the ’art’ and the ’science’ of medicine, remains enigmatic and controversial.
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ICD-10: Preparing for the Next Y2K (Best of 2015)
ICD-10 starts tomorrow, October 1st. Your Coding memory will have to increase 5-fold or more as we go from 16,000 to 68,000 new ICD-10 codes. How this will affect each of us remains to be seen. There’s a lot to learn, and many wonder if this will be the next “Y2K”.
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Strange ICD-10 Codes (Best of 2015)
The range of categories and diagnostic possibilities is astronomical with the new ICD-10 and its 68,000 codes.
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Physicians Bash Meaningful Use at Open Forum
Members of two professional medical societies griped about what they view as the Obama administration's inept attempts to regulate electronic health records (EHRs) and shared their visions for the ideal online platform at a second "town hall" meeting here Tuesday.
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Top 5 and Bottom 5 Joints (Best of 2015)
Who knows or ponders the articulations (joints) more so than the rheumatologist or orthopedist? We know their anatomy, their contours, tender sites and how to examine them. Adults have over 200 bones and up to 360 joints. Imagine if you had to do a DAS360?
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The Differential Diagnosis of Heel Pain (Best of 2015)
A slim, yoga bending, middle aged school teacher seeks a rheumatology consultation to determine the cause and cure for her left lateral heel pain for the past 6 months. No trauma, no crazy footwear and no systemic symptoms, uveitis, or peripheral/axial arthritis.
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The Nine Lives of Hydroxychloroquine (Best of 2015)
Hydroxychloroquine is one of many medications frequently used in rheumatology practice.
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Famous Rheumatologist Quotes – Part I (Best of 2015: #8)
A famous quote from Verna Wright, MD,states, “Clinicians may all too easily spend years writing“doing well” in the notes of a patient who has become progressively crippled before their eyes".
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