The third day of ACR 2021 took a big leap in online content. Here is a compilation (with links) of presentations were the “ACRBest” as seen by our RheumNow faculty.
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This report highlights the VITAL trial; the ORAL Surveillance Study; and the Microbiome study of monozygotic psoriasis patients.
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Methotrexate may be a rheumatologist’s best friend, but a key part of counselling any patient about its use has always been the risk of hepatotoxicity.
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Januse kinase (JAK) inhibitors are targeted synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (tsDMARDs) that have risen in popularity as earlier treatment options for rheumatoid arthritis.
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The RheumNow faculty reporters have been scouring and reporting on the best abstracts from the ACR. Here is a sampling of their choice abstract presentations reported during ACR 2020 Day 2 (#ACRbest).
Pedro Castillo
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Upadacitinib 56-wk efficacy/safety (mod to severe PsA)
🔹Comparable or ⬆️efficacy vs adalimumab
🔹Efficacy maintained, and 15mg vs 30mg doses similar at 56wks
🔹No new safety findings @ 56wks
🔹🚫inc risk VTE, MACE, cancer vs ada
https://t.co/NlKvBrwDxB
#ACR21 Abst#1345 @RheumNow
Mithu Maheswaranathan, MD
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🆕 Updated 2021 ACR Guidance for Adjusting Immunomodulatory Therapy with the COVID-19 Vaccine in Patients with Rheumatic & MSK Diseases
Discussed at #ACR21 COVID-19 Hub!
V4 Link: https://t.co/1SOR9yTQyF https://t.co/PKFKXpLofN
David Liew
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Atypical patterns of HCQ retinopathy:
- outside the central macula
- missed by standard central macula screening
- 41x more likely in Asians!
Lesson: screening with extramacular SD-OCT for Asian HCQ pts is so, so important. 41x over.
@MGHrheumatology #ACR21 ABST0989 @RheumNow https://t.co/0w7ALHJDSW
Janet Pope
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How concerned should we be for #hydroxychloroquine retinopathy. >4000 pts prospectively followed. 1/2 w RA & 15% w #SLE. New risks Asian with pericentral pattern and overall. Length of time on use and ⬆️wt based dose per day & CKD all risks. Abst#0989 #ACR21 #ACRBest @RheumNow https://t.co/XTfdQpVC7H
David Liew
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In pts w/o RF, liver bx prev suggestd if lifetime cumulative MTX dose was 1-1.5g, then 3.5-4g.
All pts in centre offered Fibroscan
liver stifness associations:
- age, BMI
- not cumulative MTX dose
maybe survival bias, but what we're doing now is fine!
#ACR21 ABST0786 @RheumNow https://t.co/I6IhS3jhmC
Akhil Sood MD
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Very interesting talks by Dr. Kim and Dr. Hyrich on DMARDs and Cancer risks
#ACR21 @RheumNow https://t.co/Dl5WPo7mmj
David Liew
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This feels like an excellent starting point for Tuesday's ORAL Surveillance malignancy discussion.
RWE Cohort: HR 1.01 (0.83-1.22)
RCT-dup Cohort: HR 1.19 (0.86-1.64)
ORAL Surveillance: HR 1.48 (1.04-2.09)
Interesting day 4 ahead!
great talk @SeoyoungCKim #ACR21 7S413 @RheumNow https://t.co/YSau21goMr
#ACR21 #Abstr0871 📢Argument against HCQ<5mg/kg dose from cardiac perspective in #lupus. A retrospective study N=296 pts, 13% developed CV events.⬇️28% in risk of heart failure, arrhythmia/cardiac death per mg/kg of HCQ in non-smokers @RheumNow #ACRBest https://t.co/6ssd2159R1 https://t.co/tllPWLnFFj
swethaann23
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Baseline/ Clinical /Imaging predictors of flare when tapering TNFI in axSpA in remission:
⭐️🔼Baseline physician global VAS 🔼flare in 16 weeks after tapering to 2/3 of standard dose.
⭐️🔼Age 🔼flare within 16 weeks after tapering to 1/2 dose
Abst #0929 #ACR21 @RheumNow https://t.co/EFiwKA8z99
Eric Dein
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#ACR21 Abst#0588. TNF vs non-TNFi in obese RA pts
⭐️TNFi use ⬆️ disease activity vs ABA in obese pts
⭐️TNFi use ⬆️ activity vs TCZ in non-obese pts
⭐️No diff w RTX, Tofa
▶️Further research needed: Wt-based dosing? SC vs IV?
https://t.co/K8WycPTgxW @Rheumnow #ACRBest
David Liew
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Let's look at MI first.
Well, the numbers don't look great for tofa here.
fatal MI very small numbers
non-fatal MI - well that doesn't look good
(do we have combined both tofa doses vs TNFi?)
HR > 2 seems less than ideal - this would represent a substantial RF
#ACR21 @RheumNow https://t.co/5HSXFrMJCu
Do you order EKGs in everyone starting HCQ? Do you avoid HCQ in patients with heart failure? Will these abstracts impact your practice? Click on link to read more....#ACR21 @rheumnow #HCQ https://t.co/fvUZAvNWa8
Richard Conway
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Dr Naovarat reports on 18 year outcomes of HIV and rheumatic disease. 16 patients treated with TNFi, including 2 who switched to tocilizumab and ustekinumab. No major infections. Rising viral load in 1 led to discontinue. Abstr#0965 #ACR21 @RheumNow https://t.co/jcGPaURKmb
Physician global score only predictor of axSpA flares when tapering TNFi
⭐️Changes in imaging did not predict flare
Abs#929
#ACR21 @RheumNow
https://t.co/vVn6ARKJu0 https://t.co/FlVtlLmTfl
David Liew
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For rheumatologists, instinct says in RA everything’s better with MTX. For tofacitinib, where immunogenicity not an issue, is that actually true?
Canadian registry data: maybe no
after 36m, low no. ?valid, markups mine
Need to see more of this!
#ACR21 ABST0827 @RheumNow https://t.co/VVwd4SZgVx


