All News
Hormone Therapy for Postmenopausal Women
The NEJM weighs in on the problem of post-menopausal osteoporosis (OP) and tackles the use of hormonal therapy.
The decline in estrogen after menopause may increase risks for osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline. The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to obviate these issues may be primarily driven by hot flashes in postmenopausal women.1
Who may benefit from hormone therapy among postmenopausal women?
Knee Replacements Last 25 Years
UK registry reports that greater than 80% of total knee replacements can last for 25 years.
The outcomes regarding the duration and durability of knee arthroplasties is sketchy, with many orthopedists projecting a 15 to 20 year survivial. Hence the need for an appraisal of the data.
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2019 EULAR Recommendations for the Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis
The 2019 update to the EULAR recommendations on the use of synthetic and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been published in Annals of Rheumatic Disease - highlighting the efforts of an international consensus committee effort.
In the end, the task force put forth 5 overarching principles and 12 recommendations concerning use of conventional synthetic DMARDs, glucocorticoids, biological DMARDs, biosimilar DMARDs, and targeted synthetic DMARDs (the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors tofacitinib, baricitinib, filgotinib, upadacitinib).
QD Clinic - "Doc, When Can I Stop?"
QD Clinic - Lessons from the clinic. In this video: Patients stable on a biologic need guidance on when, and if, they can stop their biologic.
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Low Risk of Inflammatory Arthritis in Hidradenitis Suppurativa Patients
JAMA Dermatology reports that after the onset and diagnosis of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), such patients have a higher risk of certain forms inflammatory arthritis.
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Steroid-Sparing Effect of Tocilizumab in Refractory Takayasu Arteritis
A controlled clinical trial has shown that giving the IL-6 receptor antibody, tocilizumab (TCZ), to patients with Takayasu arteritis (TAK) results in clinical efficacy and has a steroid sparing efffect.
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RheumNow Podcast- The Down Side of Steroids (1.17.20)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the journal reports and news from RheumNow.com.
Be sure to register for RheumNow Live 3/13/2020 in Fort Worth
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TULIP2 - Anifrolumab Succeeds in Lupus
NEJM has published the results of the TULIP2 trial with anifrolumab, an alpha interferon blocker, in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, showing significant improvement (over placebo) in multiple lupus outcome measures, including BICLA, SRI-4, CLASI and others.
Should We Screen Younger Postmenopausal Women for Osteoporosis?
Do postmenopausal women, under age 65 years, need a baseline BMD testing? A JAMA Insights review suggests that the absolute risk of fracture is low in this group and that USPSTF guidelines should be considered - that we should be screening women younger than 65 years who are at increased risk of osteoporosis and we should be using a formal risk assessment tool to identify candidates for bone density testing.
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Rheumatologists Ranked #1 in Happiness (Again)
Medscape has reported the results of its 2020 annual physician survey, This year rheumatologists (60%), general surgeons (60%), public health and preventive medicine physicians, and allergists/immunologists are the "happiest" outside of work compared to other specialists, according to Medscap
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Steroids Up the Risk of Organ Damage in SLE
Lancet Rheumatology has reported the results of a multicenter follow-up study of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients showing that organ damange is linked to glucocorticoid use, independent of clinical or serological disease activity.
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RheumNow Podcast- Knee Pain Knockout (1.10.20)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com. The podcast covers: best therapies for dactylitis and enthesitis; we have a new knockout for knee pain in OA; and are you on the naughty or nice list when it comes to the new ACR-AF guidelines for arthritis? This and more. Tune in.
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Best Practice Recommendations in Musculoskeletal Care
A group of Western Australian clinicians have set out to assess current practices and proved guidance recommendations for high-quality care for the most common musculoskeletal (MSK) pain scenarios encountered by clinicians in emergency and primary care.
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ACR-Arthritis Foundation Treatment Guidelines for Osteoarthritis
Today, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), in partnership with the Arthritis Foundation (AF), released the 2019 ACR/AF Guideline for the Management of Osteoarthritis of the Hand, Hip and Knee.
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Taltz Shines in Non-Radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis
Ixekizumab (IXE), an interleukin-17A (IL-17A) inhibitor, was recently approved for use in ankylosing spondylitis (also known as radiographic axial spondyloarthritis- axSpA).
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Best of 2019 - Is Methotrexate Necessary with Tofacitinib?
Rheumatoid arthritis patients taking tofacitinib (Xeljanz) plus methotrexate who achieved low disease activity (LDA) may be able to withdraw from the latter agent without significant worsening of disease activity, a researcher reported at EULAR 2019 in Madrid.
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Best of 2019 - War on RA - Part 1: Walk on the Moon
It’s a great time to be a rheumatologist and to manage RA. But, if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’re going to keep getting what you’ve got.
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Best of 2019 - Ups and Downs with Abatacept
Two recent studies have examined the effect of starting abatacept upon the risk of serious hospitalized infections or cancer, showing divergent results from claims data analyses.
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Best of 2019 - War on RA - Part 3: Useless Drugs
We have options that are endless – we have 28 biologics in rheumatology; 19 approved for RA in the last 20 years, but 15 of these are me-too copies or biosimilars. We currently have 2 JAK inhibitors and may have 3 or 4 by year end. But what we really need is the right drug, at the right time, in the right patient – but how will we know.
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Best of 2019 - Are Non-TNF Biologics Superior to TNF inhibitors?
Current ACR and EULAR guidelines list TNF-inhibitors (TNFi) abatacept, rituximab, and tocilizumab as being equally effective after methotrexate or as second line therapies when treating rheumatoid arthritis.
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