Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is a rare form of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, affecting between 10 and 14 cases per million globally. This adult disorder has a mean age at diagnosis of nearly 50 years and affects both sexes equally, presenting with pulmonary symptoms (asthma), eosinophilia and granulomatous or vasculitic involvement of several organs. A multidisciplinary, multinational European group has developed evidence-based, guidelines for the diagnosis and management of EGPA, intended to include recent advances.

Fibromyalgia patients hoping to see a more effective and convenient formulation of cyclobenzaprine at their local pharmacies must wait for an ongoing phase III trial -- the product's third -- to finish, as the first two delivered mixed results.

A retrospecitve cohort comparision of juvenile (jSSc) and adult-onset (aSSc) systemic sclerosis (SSc) are both rare but present differently.  

Analysis of patient data from five Nordic registries shows that the uptake of newer biologic or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARDs) in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) was mainly in biologic-experienced patients.

This week on the Podcast Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles, including the risks of dying, developing RA or autoimmune disease!

Opportunistic and chronic infections may be rare and are often difficult to diagnose, especially in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRD), that may be immunocompromised.

Researchers from Harvard have reported their analysis showing that the large increase in colchicine cost in 2010 was associated with an immediate decrease in colchicine prescription use, with a 10 year increase in emergency department and rheumatology gout visits suggesting poorer gout control.

Genetic blood tests indicated that Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) and a cytokine called APRIL were overexpressed in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome who subsequently developed lymphoma, French researchers reported, suggesting that BTK inhibitors might be useful in this population.

New research highlights potential safety concerns around women taking romosozumab, a new anti-osteoporosis drug available on the NHS.

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) can be a life-threatening infection in immunocompromised patients. The 2023 EULAR Vasculitis guidelines recommends primary prophylaxis with antibiotics, especially in rheumatic disease patients receiving rituximab (RTX).

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports and addresses 3 viewer case questions.

The British Medical Journal has publish a matched cohort analysis demonstrating that adults receiving denosumab had a lower risk of incident type 2 diabetes (NIDDM) compared with those taking oral bisphosphonates for osteoporosis.

Two independent data sets suggests the prevalence of gout among Asians has grown such that this sub-population has numerically surpassed all other racial and ethnic groups by 2018.

This week on the podcast Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, regulatory announcements and novel journal reports including a profile on pseudogout, the safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors in RA patients and the diagnostic importance of neutrophils.

A systematic review of published literature on psoriatic arthritis (PsA), clinical features, disease activity, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) shows generally higher levels of disease activity in women, compared to men with PsA.

For patients with uncontrolled gout, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) remained stable with combination pegloticase (Krystexxa) and methotrexate treatment, researchers reported.