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Damage in Childhood Lupus
Childhood lupus (cSLE) is a rare multisystem disorder with significant associated morbidity, but evidence-based guidelines are sparse, and as such management is often based on clinical expertise.
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New Treatments for Systemic Sclerosis
Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT) for SSc has been proven the most effective treatment strategy with regard to overall and event free survival in selected patients.2 But a key limitation is its toxicity, and new treatment options are needed.
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Achieving drug-free remission in axSpA
A clinical trial in early axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) demonstrated sustained inactive disease status in over 60% of patients.
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EULAR 2024 – Day 3 Report
EULAR treats its attendees to a wonderful lunch each day – Schnitzel, gnocchi, goulash at lunch after muffins and coffee in the morning. It's no wonder the meeting has been a lively one, well attended with a wealth of stimulating ideas, research and discussion. Here are a few of my favorite abstracts and presentations from today, day 3 in Vienna.
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Might Synovial Biopsy Predict Rheumatoid Treatment Responses?
Multi-modal analysis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovitis pathotypes enables more accurate choices of first line cDMARDs treatment, suggesting a predictive value to synovial biopsy.
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Can we withdraw treatment in post-menopausal osteoporosis?
Analysis of French claims data, found over half of women initiating oral bisphosphonates (BP) between 2015 and 2020 discontinued treatment for at least one year, which was associated with a 12% increase in fracture risk.
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EULAR 2024 - Day 1 Report
Wednesday was Day One at EULAR 2024 in Vienna. While the day was a slow start, the poster halls and auditoriums quickly filled with thousands of rheumatologists, eager to reunite at this international educational forum. Below are a few of my favorites from Day 1.
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AI meets Rheumatology: ChatGPT and patient response optimization
Large language models, such as ChatGPT, are advanced systems trained on vast amounts of text data, far exceeding what a human can read in a lifetime, to understand and generate human-like language. With these tools at our disposal, they are inevitably making their way into healthcare. One notable example is response optimization for SLE patients, as highlighted in abstract #0989.
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Is Cannabis Safe? (6.7.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews FDA approval, news and journal articles -- and it’s the week before EULAR 2024 in Vienna!!
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Cannabis Use is Common, But is it Safe?
Two current JAMA reports suggest that cannabis use is not only common, but that if heavily used may increase mortality rates.
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Molecular Profile for Cardiovascular Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis
A new study led by the University of Córdoba, the Maimonides Institute for Biomedical Research and the Rheumatology Department at the Reina Sofía University Hospital in Córdoba has managed to establish, for the first time, the molecular profile of those patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have a higher risk of suffering cardiovascular events.
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JAK or TNF Inhibitor as First Drug for Rheumatoid Arthritis?
A Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor outperformed tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers for substantially reducing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms in patients for whom conventional anti-rheumatic drugs had failed, a pragmatic head-to-head trial found.
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Role of Diet in Gout Risk
Diet has long been influential in gout care and risks. A large cohort study has shown that plant-based diets may reduce the risk of developing gout.
This prospective study assessed the risk of developing incident gout based on consumption of healthy and unhealthy plant-based diets.
ACR’s Run at Goliath (PCPs) (5.31.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the journal reports and articles from this past week on RheumNow.com. The ACR (and Cush) address their new website designed to educate PCPs and APPs - what do you think?
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Metformin Lowers Gout Risk in Pre-Diabetes
A large, propensity score-matched cohort study shows that metformin use in patients with pre-diabetes significantly lowers the risk of future gout.
Biologic-treated Psoriasis has Less Progression to Psoriatic Arthritis
A single center study demonstrates that biologic treatment of psoriasis (PsO) significantly reduces the likelihood of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) development; suggesting a role for more aggressive treatment of PsO.
Hypertension not associated with High NSAID Doses in AxSpA
At the recent SPARTAN annual meeting in Cleveland, Dr. Jose Meade-Aguilar reported that amongst axial spondyloarthritis patients receiving nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, there was no difference in the risk for hypertension when comparing those on high vs. low dose NSAIDs.
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Biomarkers Predictive of a Deucravacitinib Response in Psoriatic Arthritis
A phase II trial demonstrating the clinical efficacy of deucravacitinib, a TYK2 inhibitor, in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) suggests specific biologic effects identified by biomarkers may predict clinical responses.
Window of Opportunity in Psoriatic Arthritis
The Dutch southwest Early psoriatic arthritis (PsA) cohort study has demonstrated that the earlier the referral and diagnosis of PsA, the better the outcome.
